quote:

Did anyone ever threaten to, or actually, run away from home when you were kids?

Did it, actually. Best I can recall, I was ten or so. In those days, if I got any grades lower than a B on the report card, expect a nasty whooping from dad. Didn’t do homework he assigned you before he got home from work? My ass would get black and blue. I was deathly afraid of dad, because I was the least bright among the siblings.

Then I got a bad report card. Knowing the storm was coming, I hid it and decided the next day not to come home after school. Just went from one friend’s house to the next’s and played around. Then, as nighttime came, I suddenly realized, “Oh shit, where am I going sleep tonight?”. So, I had to get home. But it was already way past curfew time. As I was nearing home, a soldier who was at his post in the Army headquarters across the street yelled at me to go back from where I came, as no one was allowed on the streets. So scared of getting shot, as he could have thought I was a VC, I turned around and headed away from home.

Bicycling around, I finally found a Cyclo (tricycle taxi) parking lot and jumped into one and slept. Morning time, I got home and told everyone a BS kidnapping and escape story. They probably could tell my BS but were so happy I was home safe that they didn’t care. And dad didn’t even say anything about the report card. Whew! Dodged a bullet.

That’s my brief “There And Back Again” adventure.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Did anyone not is the real curiosity!

I never did. Had no other family nearby, really no place to go anyways.

Yup. July 10 1964, walked out the front door with my bag. Bus to town, ride to Harrisburg, overnight train to Louisville KY and bus to Fort Knox. I called home a couple of days later. "I'll send a postcard when I get to Germany." It was about 2 months later that my stepmother learned it was HER beloved son that was the troublemaker and felon. I was free, happy and away from the evil that had come in to my life.

My older brother did once. Just after sunset and before dinner, he decided he was going to leave. Mom and I stood on the front porch and waved goodbye as he walked down the street. I doubt he got more than 100 yards before turning around and saying he'd leave tomorrow during daylight after he had eaten! LOL

Yes. I was 6 or 7. My Mom chased and caught me half way down the alley.She spanked me and ushered me back home. LOL

Nope. Never even entered my mind.

Once when I was 8, and then when I was 16.

Went home when my mother came to the house I went to. (I got ratted out) She brought Arby's...

I never went back the second time.

I did.
I ran away from home.
Just not that far, because at 5yoa, I wasn't allowed to cross the street by myself.

So there I am, standing on the corner at the end of the block with a bag full of clothes, looking stupid because I couldn't cross the street by myself.
The timing was even funnier when my Dad drove up coming home from work, pulls up and asks what I was doing.

"Running away."
"Ok, just don't cross the street without your Mom or Me!"

Didn't really plan that one out well.

We’d tell Mom we were going to run away, and she’d say “fine, but don’t cross any streets.” We’d walk down to the corner and sit and fume…

I threatened it all the time, took off for a few hours to cool off a few times but never was serious. My wife threatened it once to my MIL, who went upstairs and started packing her a bag. She never threatened to do it again.

My Uncle Bill, legendary for his independence (despite 7 kids) left home when he was 14. Can’t recall the entire story, but he was gone a long time. Took freights to California and picked fruit. He flew B-17s in WWII.

When I was a teen, I left home never intending to come back - only in a different way. My parents had been divorced for some time, we lived in poverty, both my brothers went to live with my father etc. etc.

So I grabbed the shotgun and headed to the woods (which were a couple blocks away from the house). My intentions were to not come back from the woods, ending my problems. I do not recall exactly what stopped me but I went back home and nobody knew any different.

I am grateful I came back home that day, four decades later I realize that things were not as bad as I thought they were. They never really are.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Yep. Ran away to my aunt's house who lived about a mile away. She ratted me out.

I ran away to my Grandma's when I was about 8 or 9. She lived 10 miles away. My Mom and grandparents were stunned that I made it across several suburbs, crossing busy streets on my own.

But, as soon as she got over the shock of me showing up at her front door, my Grandma immediately ratted me out as well.

I was five years old when my father died, a few months after Pearl Harbor. Seven years later, my mother remarried, Mr. Nice Guy. The day after the wedding his true self started to show, an alcoholic, abusive, son of a bitch.

I stuck it out for four years, then left, for good.

I did. At 6 years old. I didn’t want a little brother. I went home when I got hungry.

I remember a Jpnathon Winters line about running away.

Mom why do you always say no. NonononoNONONOnono. Well I am going to run away from home.



That's the first time you said yes.

I ran away when I was 7. I took a pair of pants, two shirts and my baseball glove. I walked to the end of the drive way, sat on the curb and told my friends and sisters I was running away.

My mom came home and asked me what I was doing and I told her not to ever talk to me, I'm running away and thats that.

She beat the hell out of me the whole way down the drive way and back into the house.

I never tried to run away again after that.

I left home at 14.

When I was almost 17 after years of abuse and being dropped out of school to work, I realized the only way I was gonna make anything of myself was to get away from my father. So I took my little brother with me. Had no idea where my mother lived so we went to my grandmother’s house. In the end that didn’t work out for me because my mother had two other kids, and I had never lived with her. Going from 2 kids to 4 was just too much. But her landlord gave me a place to stay long enough to get myself together to go in the Navy. My life hasn’t been perfect, but I definitely can’t complain.

1986. I was 12. The movie Stand By Me had just come out. My mother and step father were traveling encyclopedia salesmen and hadn't been home in a few weeks, so me and some friends decided to walk the railroad tracks. My older brother lived with us but he was working at a restuarant at night and going to college during the day.
We walked from Green Cove Springs, Fl to Palatka, Fl. Now some of that 26 mile distance was covered in the back of a pickup as we hitchhiked some of it. I don't recall the amount. So, my friends I went with knew some kids that lived in Palatka and we were going to shack up there for the night. Around 1am, I began to panic. I called my house collect and my brother thankfully answered. He drove all the way down and picked me up. He wasn't mad but since other kids were involved, he called the police the next day. A couple of days later my mother and step father showed back up. I caught a hell of a beating.