Did you ever run away from home?

[skygazer]

I don't know what made me think of this. I ran away with 2 friends when I was 14. Not sure why - we thought we were picked on. It was early spring and nice weather and we left straight after school wearing tennis shoes and denim jackets. We walked on the railroad tracks to avoid seeing out parents out driving around.

It seemed like we walked forever. It got dark and started getting really cold. We had no money and nothing to eat or drink. At one point, we passed by a large warehouse or something with a streetlight which was the only light around for miles. As we moved away from it, I glanced back and the light seemed really bright. I turned back to my friends and then the rails started to vibrate - it wasn't the streetlight, it was a train! We jumped off the tracks into a water filled ditch and a big ol' frieght train roared past, scared us half to death.

By midnight or so, we were freezing cold and exhausted. We saw a light on a hillside and climbed up, hoping to find a house or store or something. It was really dark, though and all we could see was a small shed with an outside light and a lot of dark hills and outbuildings looming around. We went in the shed which was unlocked - it was sort of a toolshed and there was a large generator in the middle that we climbed on top of, pulled an old tarp over ourselves and went to sleep.

The next morning, the thermometer outside the door showed 16 degrees and it was snowing. Oh, and we were in the town dump. We'd traveled maybe five miles from town though it seemed like about 30. We trudged out to the road, found a phone and called our parents. That was the end of our running away!

How about you? Got any good running away from home stories?

[acmavm]

1. Yeah, at 16. With my best friend. For about five days. Had one of the

best times of my life. Then I came home.

The End.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. Yes I have - so many times I have lost count .

The first time was when I was 13 in the eighth grade . Second time , was when I was 16 years old in the eleventh grade . Third time - I not only ran away , I left American soil . I moved completely across the Atlantic - I was of legal age by this time but I was just 19 . I just needed some " peace " and I finally found it .

[Nomad559]

3. I did once

I was 14, gone for 2 weeks, I sometimes slept In one of those Salvation Army donation containers, they were always full of donated clothes.

I never had a problem getting food, I had a really good time.

:)

[LiberalEsto]

4. Yes, when I was 19

I was spending the summer at home after my sophomore year at college. Life with my dysfunctional family was unbearable. One day I packed up my stuff with my boyfriend's help and moved 200 miles to where he was living while going to college. I told my brother to tell the parents, and didn't communicate with them for months. I dropped out of college.

In December the boyfriend and I transferred to my old college and moved back to our home state, although 45 miles from "home." I never stayed in my parents' house again for more than one night at a time, usually just on holidays.

Sometimes when you're in a bad situation, you have to save your own sanity first, before it's possible to help anyone else.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

5. I like your last line the best because its so true .

Sometimes when you're in a bad situation, you have to save your own sanity first, before it's possible to help anyone else.

I learned that lesson too when I ran/fled the States when I was 19 years old as well .

[skygazer]

6. Very true

Not long after my first incident which I related in the OP, my father essentially "ran away" from home himself - he was just never around, my mom had died and I was pretty much on my own. I left for good at 17, just went out with some friends one night and never went back.

[sakabatou]

7. Yes, but only to the end of the block...

[fortyfeetunder]

8. while in college

had to live at home. (locals couldn't live in campus dorms unless your folks had money or influence) At times it was hell.

Imagine, doing an all nighter, slumped over a desk, and the old man has a conniption because the light is still on...

One day I left home and stayed away for days at a time.

Then I learned how to stash clothes in a locker and "live" on campus.

I'd come home to get a shower and back to school. That was the only way I could have survived last 2 years.

[Wapsie B]

9. No but now I wish I had

the guts to have done it way back when. Dysfunctional family indeed.