02.26.2021
Ah yes, a prompt to reminisce on childhood rebellion. For the most part growing up, I tried to stay in the right lane and do what was expected of me, but I’ve also always been known to be assertive and take my own liberties as well. In fact, I was told that I was an extremely strong willed child once I made up my mind.
So, with all that, the biggest thing I would get in trouble for, was pushing or going beyond boundaries that were set for me. See, growing up, things moved so quickly in my life and I remember having to take on a lot of responsibility to the point that I began to feel that I had the right to do certain things I wanted to, I would take it upon myself to decide what liberties I had.
I recall one night in particular when I was only eleven and living in a small town in Southern California, when I did exactly this.
I had been running minor errands and doing some grocery shopping for my mother and me and I went on that afternoon to spend time with my closest friends, a twin brother and sister, who I was extremely close to.
They had just found out that I may be moving away soon and were pretty broken up about it. In particular the brother. So much so that he ran off on his own that night and no one knew where he went or where he was, it was dark and getting late. His sister was panicking and so we took our bikes to go look for him. It wasn’t long that their other older sister also decided to look for him. The one main rule my mother had had for me was to be home by dark, which I was not. So I called her to tell her what was going on and she demanded that regardless, I needed to be home, rules were rules, and at age eleven, a child still, I firmly told her that “I would be home once he was found and I love you”, click. Yeah.
So after that call it took about an hour to find him and bring him home, but even then, I stayed because I wanted to talk to him and try to comfort him. By the time everything was said and done and I found myself back at home dreading walking in, it was near eleven’ o clock at night…
We had a roommate (a mother and daughters of her own) at the time who happened to open the door to me and pretended to close it. “You oughta be ashamed of yourself right now” was the first thing she said to me, my mother standing behind her, I just knew this would probably be the worst trouble I’d be in. I was surprised to see that my mom did not say anything to me, except “go to your room”. Now as a parent myself, I can understand being so upset that you just can’t say anything at all and I’m quite sure that she was just relieved that the night didn’t end on a tragic note, as I’m sure I scared her out of her mind!
Anyway, it turned into the kind of situation where we ended up just having a long talk about it and I was only grounded for a short bit…to my surprise and relief. I think about that time a lot when I try to analyze my way of handling or doing things. On the outside I can seem very quiet and even passive, and though I have moments like that, at the end of the day, once I’ve made up my mind, just like I did when I was a kid, I’m going to do it, or at least give it my best go.
To no surprise at all, this would only be the first of many times that I would find myself in a similar situation and bless my mom’s heart for having to go through all that. I still stand behind most of my strong willed decisions, which she knows, as I always wanted a sense of control even at a young age, but I also had many lessons to learn from all that as well.
So, thinking back, what was the one major thing you got in trouble for the most?
Was it similar to mine, doing what you pleased so to speak, regardless of rules? Or was it having a loud mouth or constant attitude? Sneaking out of the house? Lying? Not being fair to siblings? Honestly the list could go on I’m sure.
What did you learn from all of those experiences? Can you see it from your caregiver’s point of view now or do you stand firm that you were innocent?
Well hopefully these days, you stay out of trouble, I know I try to, haha!
Remember that wherever your path brought you now, to always enjoy yourself.
Love and Blessings, Storm.
Life in a Storm 