Ever met someone who was so sure life would be perfect- if you weren’t in it?
Someone who believes you to be the cause of all their problems.
Someone who tries to pretend you don’t exist.
Someone who has convinced themselves that you aren’t real.
….but their troubles are their own. Their life is their own.
I pity the woman in my life who thinks her children would love her again, if I were gone. She has made every effort to remove me from their lives, not even drawing the line at overtly manipulating her children. On her daughter’s 18th birthday, she made her choose between me and her sister. The daughter, understandably, could not make that choice. So she let her mother keep the sister away from her.
I know the mother believes I am the problem. I know I am her salvation. Because I believe, without me, this would be her reality instead.
Why do youth run away from home?
Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away in a year, while countless others contemplate leaving their home. One in five youth run away from home before the age of 18, and half run away two or more times.
Reasons for running away range from trouble at school, family dynamics (divorce, remarriage, step/blended families, family rules, or fighting with siblings) and abuse. Youth may run away on impulse to get away from an immediately painful situation, in protest over a house rule, or even over an isolated incident. Sometimes they may be drawn away by older friends and the promise of an exciting life, but with no plans for what to do next.