Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

The Runaway

Marty

 

The first and only time I ran away from home I was seven years old.

I remember I was mad at my mother– why I do not remember. Though I do remember putting a few things in a brown paper bag, then announced that I was leaving and walked towards the kitchen door.

My mother nonchalantly said, "Goodbye, and have fun." I was bothered by her casualness… didn't she realize that I was seriously leaving? I walked to the end of the lane then stopped since I didn't know which way to go.

I sat down by the mailbox.

Soon there after my brother Marty (who was five years old) came down the lane. He too had a brown paper bag. He sat down beside me. I assumed he didn't know which way to go either.

He opened his brown paper bag and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie and ate it. I asked him for one. He said, "Mommy told me not to share them with you unless you decided to come home."

I recall the sound of my brother opening that paper bag, and the taste of love in those cookies.

Home sweet home. 

 

Did you ever runaway from home?

 

(The photo is one of my brother Marty (One year old) and I (Three years old) and I am holding a dog, what a shocker.)

Comments

30 responses to “The Runaway”

  1. Julie M ~ The Little Red Shop

    Ha! Nope, but I sure do love chocolate chip cookies!
    : )
    Julie M.
    ps That is a DARLING photo.

    Reply
  2. Shelley Noble

    You look precisely the same today! I love the story. So sweet in every way.

    Reply
  3. Irina

    I’m laughing at those memories now, thank you, Corey. I did ran away, or tried, from my grandparents while staying with them 🙂 Didn’t go far either. My son was going to run away too when he was about five, I think. I ask him if he needs my help with packing. He changed his mind right there 🙂
    PS. That picture is adorable and you holding a PUPPY!!!!!!

    Reply
  4. Paula

    I was about 8 years old when I “ran away” from home. I too had had words with my mother. I didn’t tell her but creeped out the back door, I had decided to go live with my dads mum, my nana. Problem was she lived about 3 miles away, however off I set. I had to walk alongside a busy main road for a good part of the way, and kept telling myself I shouldn’t be doing this. However I carried on, and what seemed like hours, and probably was, I finally knocked on my nana’s door. Instead of welcoming arms I got a good telling of! My father was later dispatched to come and pick me up and bring me home. It was a Sunday I recall and getting home, rather late, I was welcomed with a lovely sunday roast, being kept warm in the oven for me. Of course thinking back I dread to think what my poor mother must have been going through, wondering where I was. Fortunately, I never did it again!

    Reply
  5. Zosia

    Awwwww… I don’t know who is cuter, you and your brother or the puppies.
    I don’t think I run away from home, but sometimes when I was upset I would hide behind a shelf and not talk to my Mom. It never lasted long and I was quite young, definitely long before I started school.

    Reply
  6. Carol L

    That is the cutest photo ever !
    I never ran away but my sister did. She was mad at our mother ( why is it always the mom?) I remember it was Christmas time and Mom was making dinner. Linda put on her coat, announced she was leaving and promptly went over to the kitchen table where there was a bowl of nuts and proceeded to fill her hat with walnuts and walk out the door, through our long snowy backyard and into the playhouse that Dad had made for us. I remember looking over at my Mom and wondering about her lack of concern. When I asked her about it she said “Oh, she’ll be back…she forgot the nutcracker”.

    Reply
  7. Marie-Noëlle

    Never ever !!!
    But I threatened my mother that I would if she had my hair cut (trying to copy a school friend).
    The next day my hair was cut very SHORT … Still I did not run away … (And did not get any cookie !!!)

    Reply
  8. Ed in Willows

    I did once when I was about 6. I headed down the sidewalk, went around the block and ended up back at home because I wasn’t allowed to cross the street.

    Reply
  9. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    Must be that age when we “think” we are more independent than we really are, but I too was around 7 years old when I decided to pack my doll’s suitcase and leave home. Didn’t know where I was going {think I was mad at being teased by my sister}, but left out the front door {well, I was known for slamming doors behind me; had a temper}. Walked down about 4 houses to the one on the corner and sat in some bushes. My sister rode my bike up and down the street so I could see her. Of course, I was mad and came out from hiding to tell her to get off my bike!! I recall going back home and that was that. I mentioned this to my mother during the time we spent her last 5 months before dying. She laughed as she too recalled it…said I was always independent and knew back then that I would travel alot. How right she was…lol!!

    Reply
  10. Denise

    When I tried to run away from home, Mom dropped the carrot she was pealing and went to fetch the suitcase for me!! Needless to say, she took the air out of my balloon!
    You are soooooooo cute in that picture. And you still are.

    Reply
  11. georgie

    That is a wonderful story and photo. I ran away when I was about six..to the driveway. Can’t remember many of the details. Dad saw me and asked what I was doing. I said I’d run away from home. He shrugged his shoulders and said “Okay, but we sure will miss you”.

    Reply
  12. kim

    Yes I ran away. My mother picked me up and put outside the back door and shut the door. I cried.

    Reply
  13. Marilyn

    What a very wise mother you have. Oh to tempt you with chocolate chip cookies. I remember wanting to run away, but don’t know if I ever did. Oh yes, one time I went to a friends house and refused to come home until the next day; but I was older and the story not so sweet.

    Reply
  14. Dorian Fletcher

    Darling photo, Corey. Yes, I threatened to vacate home myself at about 4 years of age. My mother helped me pack my little cardboard suitcase and then I went out on the front porch. I was sure I would be able to walk from Hollywood (where we lived at the time) to Northern California to my grandmother’s house. After a few minutes, I realized that I didn’t have a clue as to which way to go. I started crying – my mother opened the front door – and I never tried the same stunt again.

    Reply
  15. christine

    Such a “sweet” memory. Your mother is the best.

    Reply
  16. Jeannie

    I was 5. I packed my “going to Grandma’s” suitcase with my doll, a book, and my favorite dress. (This was 1958 and I wore dresses all the time.)Mom wanted to know where I was going. I was going to live with Bev, our neighbor 4 houses down with 4 girls. Why? Because Bev didn’t make me do chores. I got to Bev’s and after being shown the room I would share with Susie, I was offered a tea towel to help dry dishes. What? Then we were herded outside to help weed the vegetable garden! I decided that if I was going to do chores, I might as well do them at my house, packed up and went home. Of course, Mom had called Bev and gave her a head’s up. Bev’s daughters didn’t do chores. Love the photo with the pup!

    Reply
  17. Brother Mathew

    Great photo, funny little brother Marty a full two years younger outweighs “little” sister.

    Reply
  18. bramble

    This photo needs NO story; it is simply precious!
    Yes, I thought about running away in 5th grade due to circumstances at home beyond my control. Finally confided to the kindred spirit who sat next to me all year and he said “Don’t. I would miss you. So would your parents and grandparents.JUST DON’T.” So I didn’t, and after 40 plus years we are STILL friends. (Y’all thought I was going to say I married him didn’t you? We never went there but who knows…we aren’t dead yet!)

    Reply
  19. Joan Thodas

    Your mother is one smart cookie!

    Reply
  20. Chris Wittmann

    Adorable photo Corey. I don’t ever recall wanting to run away from home, but I do recall with painful vividness wishing my parents would divorce! Mom was not an easy person to live with, so maybe I was hoping she would be the one to run away! Looking back now, I’m glad they waited until I was married and living in England to divorce.

    Reply
  21. Kristin McNamara Freeman

    Corey, the picture is so wonderful! The childhood sweetness and innocence capture beautifully. What a clever Mother you have and how sweet that your brother brought the message and ate the cookie in front of you. Lovely.
    I never thought of running away, but dreamed that I would be someplace else. 1940’s and parents ruled! Mom was a tyrant and I began writing poetry and little bits of prose to escape to another world. Enduring the challenges of living with her probably made me the resilient adult I am today and did indeed make me a kind and caring mother and grandmother. I wanted not to repeat that angry, shouting and not nice experience for my offspring.
    My youngest brother did pack stuff and run away; he was eleven years younger than I and managed to get nearly two miles from our country home in northern Washington state. Our Red Setter, Mike, walked along side of him as he traveled to wherever he thought he should go. The owner of a little five and dime store called mom and she went and retrieved the two of them.
    Thanks for your stories, photos and sharing of you every day! I treasure your posts!!!
    Kristin

    Reply
  22. Natalie Thiele

    What great stories everyone has! Corey, your mom was so clever, pulling chocolate chip cookies out of her bag of tricks! Boy, our parents had us trained, didn’t they?
    My sister and I ran away, we didn’t want to shell peas. We walked around the corner and decided to live on a lady’s lawn (like Ed, we weren’t allowed to cross the street).
    The lady whose lawn we were “living” on, came out and told us to go back home. We weren’t gone long enough for anyone to miss us, and still had to shell the peas for dinner.

    Reply
  23. robin Williams

    Cousin Lynn got mad at her mother and decided to run away. Her mother wrapped some food in a bandana and tied it to a long stick and sent her on her way. I had to go with her, of course, to be sure 1) she’d really run away and 2) to see what yummy food her mother had put in that bandana! We got as far as the empty lot at the end of our lane and played til darktime when both sets of parents called us in because it was time for baths! We’d eaten all the food and were dog-tired forgetting all about the main object~running away from home!

    Reply
  24. robin Williams

    Corey, I forgot to mention this. On your way back to France, if your plane is held over Little Rock or Memphis, call Chap and Ashley. They will help you or have you stay over with them.

    Reply
  25. Brenda, Walker, LA, USA

    That is precious! I didn’t run away, I feared a spanking, lol! I knew I’d be found and get one!

    Reply
  26. Judi

    What a sweet story! Of course, I ran away from home; didn’t we all? In my case, I had so many brothers and sisters, and was so different from them, I was sure I had been adopted. So, I decided to run away. I took with me only important things, like my favorite doll, who would never desert me – and my BIRTH CERTIFICATE – which clearly showed my parents as my parents, but I did not let that deter me. My mother behaved exactly as yours did – except I did not get cookies and I’m sure when I came home, she never even noticed. Ah, memory…

    Reply
  27. patsy

    Whata cute story! You always have the most delicious stories, can’t resist them! No, I never ran away from home, don’t think I ever had the urge to!

    Reply
  28. Ala

    It seems a lot of people ran away when they were very young. My sister and I made it all the way to the far end of the back yard, and set up our camp by the swings. It started raining, so we forgave mom and went back ‘home’.

    Reply
  29. deborah

    Oh, I love the picture of you as a three year old. It is darling!
    One time I was mad and decided to run away. I started down the lane, but didn’t get too far because my little brother started crying so I came back to take care of him. lol!

    Reply
  30. Shannon

    Too funny. Almost the same as my runaway story. I was mad at my mom and decided I was going to run away for precisely 3 days. So I packed 3 days worth of clothes, and an apple in case I got hungry. I mapped out a route, but decided it was too far and I’d have no sleeping arrangements or a place to go to the bathroom, so I figured I’d climb my favorite tree (yes, with my suitcase) and roost there for the duration. Nevermind that my friend had eaten over and was still at the house. My friend called out the window, “Shannon! Are you ever going to come inside?” I said, “NO!” She said, “OK, your mom said I can have your dessert!” Aaaand I decided I had runaway long enough.

    Reply

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