Where would I go? Even at a very young age, I knew that creature comforts like food and shelter were very necessary - preferably provided by someone I was familiar with (mostly because I was actually quite shy, and didn't trust many people). Therefore the runaway plan inevitably included the final destination of my grandparent's home... I knew they would never turn me away!
This in turn brought up problems, other than the ones being experienced in the anger of the moment. Namely the fact that my grandparents lived 200 miles away, in another state, and I wasn't nearly old enough to drive!! Not being able to reach the pedals and see over the dashboard at the same time can easily dissuade thoughts of driving. Even if I was old enough (or tall enough) to drive, I did not own a car - and the thought of stealing one never occurred to me (hummm... wonder what I would have done if that thought had popped into my head back then?).
Here is where the "meticulous-planning-in-advance-gene" that I am blessed/cursed with, kicked into full gear. Excessive travel distance definitely took walking out of the picture! Decided I wasn't one of the pioneer children crossing the plains, and therefore did not need to walk, and walk, and walk, and walk. This then lead to thoughts of other transportation possibilities - namely taking a bus! But bus rides required money, of which I did not have much. Again, stealing was not found in the myriad of thoughts running through my head (I was actually a very good girl - with only one candy theft on my record from years earlier - which I repented of and won't go into the details right now).
Since I was too young to get a job my only means of obtaining money was... from my parents in the form of a weekly allowance!! There it was! I now had a direction and plan to carry out my running away desires! Knowing how much I "earned" in allowance each week, plus guesstimating the cost of a bus ticket, and adding in a little extra for "just-in-case" events (like maybe needing to eat, one never knows how long a journey can take!). Using simple addition math skills, which even at age 5 or 6 was not too complicated... that all came later with multiplication, division and fractions... finally I came to the conclusion that it would take me a few months to hoard my allowance funds. THEN (and only then) would I be adequately prepared to run away!
There is a problem with having the "meticulous-planning in advance gene" when you are a kid with big ideas... by the time a day or two passed, I had gotten over my anger of the moment. Then instead of saving for bus fare, weekly allowance funds were spent on truly vitally NOW important things... like candy at the drug store!! Looking back, I never even went as far as to pack a bag for the trip - after all plans indicated it wouldn't be a reality for a number of weeks yet! But I do have memories of making a list of things I wanted to take with me.
Interesting, I still make lists... and with few exceptions they often turn out to be just as "non-useful" today as they did 40-something years ago. But I still make lists... excuse me while I go check off, "write on blog today" from one of last year's lists!!
ha ha ha....I ran away a few times.
ReplyDeleteOnce to the garage, which was packed full of stuff...on of which was a mattress....and I quickly fell asleep for a few hours. No one even noticed I was gone.
Another time I ran away to my snow fort on the side of the house. That was super sneaky. I stayed hidden for a whole 5 minutes until my brother came out and threw snow balls at me.
Sigh....
Perhaps I should have been more organized like you and actually thought these things through. :)
I love how your mind worked out things as a child. Such organization and imagination!
ReplyDeleteI don't ever remember running away, but I do remember wanting to escape. It wasn't a fully formed idea, just the notion that I wanted to be away from where I was.