PeekabooNWA

When You Want to Run Away

Posted on 30. Aug, 2009 by admin in After The Bubbly

When I was a kid, I never wanted to run away and join the circus. Now that I’m older, I get it. Although it’s not my dream to tame lions or become the bearded lady, I understand the lure of escaping to some exotic life where the tightrope you walk is literal as opposed to the figurative balancing act we do here in the world of diapers, homework, and ear infections.

My mother tells a story about her mother, who would tell her children that if they didn’t behave she would run off to Tucumcari, New Mexico where they couldn’t find her. To which my mother calmly responded that they most certainly would find her – in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

My mom shouted similar warnings to my brother and me as kids. She told us that she would run away and never return. We didn’t have reason to believe her empty threats, but then again, you never knew. Moms are crazy like that. Our mothers and grandmothers didn’t mess with balance – work-life or otherwise. They didn’t have spa days or antidepressants or Oprah. They just woke up in the morning and did what needed doing. And if they lost it once in a while, well, they were entitled.

To be Continued in the Sept. Issue of Peekaboo or online at www.afterthebubbly.com.