Hilary Weeks

My brother ran away once.  He was about five years old.  There had been a conflict between he and my mother.  She had probably asked him to pick up his fire truck, yo-yo and sneakers – and that drove him to the only reasonable solution…run away from home.

Sure enough, he left, though he didn’t go far.  My mom found him under the deck eating raisins.  (At least he was wise enough to bring sustenance.)

A few weeks ago, I was helping my daughter pack for a family vacation.  I asked her to get a bag we could use for packing.  She  said, “Oh, we can use my runaway bag.”

“Your what?”

“My runaway bag.  I packed it when I told you I was going to runaway.”

Oh, of course.  Naturally.  Who doesn’t have a runaway bag, I thought to myself, trying hard not to giggle.  I guess it is similar to a bag you keep on hand when you’re about to have a baby.  She clearly needed to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.  (Her reasons for running would likely be similar to my brother’s.)

She retrieved the bag, then emptied the contents.  She had packed three items:

1. The book, “You are My I Love You.”  I gave it to her for Christmas one year.

2. Whoppy – her favorite stuffed animal.

3. And a clicker!

When I saw the clicker, I wanted laughed my head off – but I didn’t dare.  It would hurt her feelings – and that might be cause to run away…which would be terrible timing with having just unpacked the runaway bag and all.

But, oh, how I have giggled about it since.  A clicker!  Yes, every runaway bag needs the essentials…including a clicker.  During trying times, (under the deck eating raisins, for instance) one needs to think positively!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2013 at 1:00 am and is filed under Hilary's Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.