The classic television version is kids climbing out windows, down trellis’, landing in the flowers surrounding the idyllic home, followed by them scrambling through the rose bushes.
That was never a problem that I had to deal with. Primarily for the reason that I was quite introverted during my years prior to leaving home. In fact, an old schoolmate of mine, a girl that I had quite the crush on my freshman year, was a vendor at the fall festival a few years back. She wanted to introduce me to her husband as I was making my rounds through the festival on my motorcycle.
That was never a problem that I had to deal with. Primarily for the reason that I was quite introverted during my years prior to leaving home. In fact, an old schoolmate of mine, a girl that I had quite the crush on my freshman year, was a vendor at the fall festival a few years back. She wanted to introduce me to her husband as I was making my rounds through the festival on my motorcycle.
After the introduction, he noted that he had heard a lot about me. Still hoping for validation of those freshman year daydreams, I had to know the general context at the very least.
Following her stringent objections and my persistent assurance that I would be fine with whatever had been said, he finally stated, “She said that in high school you were somewhat of a nerd. I don’t find that to be an accurate description of you at all.” I assured him that her description was highly accurate and let the subject drop as she was scrambling through the rose bushes.
My teenage years were only marked by a couple late arrivals and by late I am not referring to a few minutes or even increments that can be measured in quarter hour intervals in order to flesh out the discussion; no. my late arrivals were in multiple hour increments. These happened late in my high school years, so their impact was minimal.
While I never fully developed a plan for escaping the house, I did have a couple in the works.
My teenage years were only marked by a couple late arrivals and by late I am not referring to a few minutes or even increments that can be measured in quarter hour intervals in order to flesh out the discussion; no. my late arrivals were in multiple hour increments. These happened late in my high school years, so their impact was minimal.
While I never fully developed a plan for escaping the house, I did have a couple in the works.
One of my bedroom windows opened onto the back-porch roof, giving me easy access to the outside. That was as far as my plan got as jumping off that roof seemed filled with potential problems.
I was to find out that living in a small town, not only did you have to escape the house, you also had to slip out of town. I validated this truth when during my college years, my parents and sister went on a two-week vacation.
It turned out there were multiple people keeping track of my comings and goings. These observers seemed well trained in a manner that indicated this had been a long term and developed plan.
While slipping out of town was problematic, slipping into town deemed complex as the cars that I drove were unique and the only ones in the community. My dear mother had her own way of knowing when I was arriving as she would lay awake until my headlights swept across the house as I made my way home. At least I wasn’t scrambling through the rose bushes.
(Paul Richardson's column, The Horse I Rode On In, is published weekly in the Neosho Daily News, the Seneca News-Dispatch and on the Turner Report.)
While slipping out of town was problematic, slipping into town deemed complex as the cars that I drove were unique and the only ones in the community. My dear mother had her own way of knowing when I was arriving as she would lay awake until my headlights swept across the house as I made my way home. At least I wasn’t scrambling through the rose bushes.
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