Friday, February 23, 2007

Cookie box

The word for the day is cookie, courtesy of Mona's daughter. So here is the memory that cookie dredged up from the vast cavernous regions of my brain.

When i was 6, i decided to run away from home because i was sad. I don’t remember the specific incidents that led up to my momentous decision, but i’m sure life was just intolerable. When i told my mother about my plans her reply was, “Go ahead.”

I made extensive plans - such as filling up an empty toothpaste tube box with vanilla wafers, because they fit just so into the box, and wrapping the box in a bandana. And because this is how one runs away, I spent some time looking for a stick to tie my bandana to but got bored with that and left carrying my bandana.

I marched indignantly as far as the tree house across the street, climbed up inside, ate all my cookies and fell asleep. I was going to live there forever. Or until dinner time as it turned out.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

as a child who threatened to run away, it killed me when my mother didn't seem concerned. as a parent of a child who's threatened to run away, I catch myself almost wishing he would.

I need a cookie now.

thailandchani said...

Cute story! LOL ~ I wonder if any of us survived childhood without at least threatening to run away at some point. Knowing my mother, she would have handed me twenty dollars and dropped me off at the bus stop! :)


Peace,

~Chani

urban-urchin said...

I did the same.damn.thing. except i packed packet after packet of butternut hot chocolate mix in my bandana w/stick. My mom watched me pack and told me how she'd miss me. I was shocked she didn't seem to be bothered.

Mother of Invention said...

Ah, those 'nilla wafers get you every time!

Joan said...

I vaguely remember running away although I believe I decided NOT to tell my parents because I just knew they would stop me (or at least I thought they would). Instead, I packed a few things (for the life of me I can't remember what)and then proceeded to walk down the sidewalk until I got to the corner. That's when it occurred to me that I wasn't allowed to cross the street by myself so I turned around and walked home. Since I hadn't told anyone, at least I didn't have to suffer any embarrassment.

Lynn said...

The word "cookies" makes me think of Girl Scout cookies, and the thought of selling, boothing and delivering them, makes me want to run away and hide...right now.

meno said...

holly, i was shocked when my mom seemed not to care too. She knew i wouldn' get far. Em has never threatened to run away. Hmmmm.

chani, from what you say i think your mom might have done just that. Mine might have, if she had had $20.

u-u, isn't that funny that we remember the food we took? And yours in a bandana too. Cute.

moi, i still like those, although i haven't had any in years. They need milk to be dipped in though.

joan, i had to make a big announcement so my mother would tearfully beg me to stay. HA! See how smart you are?

lynn, oh, that's right, you are a girl scout leader. I used to have to go door to door selling those damned things. I feel for you.

Abigail S said...

I love Nilla Wafers! They are such a comfort food (cuz they remind me of my childhood).

I was so excited today because I had some to eat for the first time in years!

Bob said...

ANYONE in the south can tell you that the only reason for the existance of 'nilla wafers is to make banana pudding. period, the end.

Molly said...

Hello,
I am visiting from Tink's Pickled Beef. Your story reminds me that when I was six, I used to say that I was running away and building a house in the backyard. At 15, a very sad girl ran (walked) away with no bags, no clothes... Luckily, both your cookie-eating girl and the sad 15-year old are here to relay these stories.

Anonymous said...

Lately, whenever anyone says just "cookie" (not "peanut butter cookie" or "chocolate chip cookie" or "Oreo cookie" but just "cookie"), all I can think of is Fussy's bulldog.

alphawoman said...

This was great. I love your childhood memories.

AC said...

I took a jar of peanut butter and a stack of saltines. I made it across the street behind a big tree. And sat there for several hours, really. Sniffed and grumbled to myself over my many miseries.

My dad came home from work and no body came to look for me. Finally I trudged on home, Dinner was about to go on the table. Not one question of whereabouts was asked.

Years later my mother said she sat and watched me from the living room window until Daddy came home, he took over watching while she cooked.
Also, the neighbor who's tree it was kept a lookout too after noticing me and calling mom.

Mine never ran away either and I wonder if I could have been so cool. Now at 21, I'm hoping I don't have to lock her out one day soon!

meno said...

abigail, i love them too. And you can just keep on eating and eating and eating them, which is why i don't have any around.

bob, really? It sounds good. Recipe?

mjd, hi there! It's usually a lot more serious at 15. By 15 i knew enough about the world to know that i had it pretty good, despite constant complaining. You must have been very unhappy. I wish there was a way to go back in time and give those 15 year olds a hug.

mrs.chili, that's because cookie is one cute dog. We used to have an English bulldog when i was young so i love seeing the pictures of her dog.

alphawoman, thank you!

ac, it's sweet to know that your mother really had her eye on you. Saltines and peanut butter, mmmm. So what you are saying is that the drama doesn't end?

jaded said...

The most memorable time I contemplated running away I was twenty....No, I never rode the short bus. When my mother learned of this stress induced, ill-conceived notion, she suggested that I take the quarter off from college, and then she took me to see the Lion King. I'm pretty sure my supplies included a multi-tool and several pounds of beef jerky.....if I chosen the cookies instead, I probably would followed through with it.

Joan of Arf said...

Don't remember how old I was when I plotted my escape. I do remember that I defiantly packed up my (most prized possesion) Weeble pop-up tree house so I was probably 4 or 5. It proved to be way too laborious to carry anywhere, all the Weebles kept falling out (but they didn't fall down...), so I made it to the end of the driveway and gave up.

Funny that I went for Weebles and everyone else was so practically minded and went for FOOD.

Girlplustwo said...

its amazing, isn't it...all the millions of ways we break our own hearts as kids...preparation enough, i suppose.

Lynnea said...

Yeah but you showed her - you ate all the cookies.

My nephew recently told his mom, "I'm mad at you. But I'll have my dinner anyways." So apparently anger at a parent and food go hand in hand. :-)

Liv said...

makes me wonder if the bear poked you. and/or you needed a nap. why does it tickle me to think of small meno curled up in a ball sleeping?!

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I ran away the first time when I was 2. My mother followed, picking up shoes, underpants, and pinafore, until she got to the far curb, where I sat, head in hands and butt naked, because I wasn't allowed to cross the street.

The next time, I also made a bindle with a kerchief and a stick, like in the comics. I wrapped a little dog figurine in it because I couldn't take my real dog. I crossed several streets and when they found me after dark, I got spanked, which convinced me to cross even more streets the next time.

Julie Q. said...

I love the bandana and stick image (minus the stick I guess). Very hobo-esque.

I got as far as the doghouse in the backyard. But the stinky dog smell did me in.

meno said...

patches, A mini-tool! I should have thought if that. I hope the quarter off college helped. The Lion King is pretty cool.

joan, i was probably just hungry when my plot was hatched. But you never know when a Weeble pop-up tree house will come in handy.

maggie, well, all the cookies i could carry in my little cardboard box anyway. Yeah, i showed her all right!

liv, who even knows. My mother was full of tiny little barbs. At that age i didn't recognize them as such, but i still felt their sting.

hearts, you were going for the whole new life thing, sans all possessions. Looks like you made a habit of running away.

julie, all the pictures i had ever seen showed me that when you run away you carry your stuff in a bandana on a stick.

gary rith said...

Oh yeah, nilla wafers and tree houses. You and I must have had the same childhood!

Lucia said...

Childhood logic...yesh, those cookies absolutely had to go into the toothpaste tube box. Of course!

Dick said...

I don't remember ever running away but you have to remember that I didn't know how to cook so knew I couldn't survive on my own. I did have a club house I had built in the back yard that I slept out in quite often, in the summer. But I always found my way into the house at meal time.

TTQ said...

Yep did that too and later when I got older and stopped coming home at night upon my return my mom would ask when are you moving out anyways? Once she was very angry and I left that day (I was 18). That'll show her right?

meno said...

gary, We always had a tree house nearby. One of my brothers is a very determined guy. The last one he built had 3 floors in one tree and then a bridge to another tree.

lucia, that box was made for those cookies!

dick, at 6 i didn't know how to cook either. I loved having a tree house or a fort nearby to escape into.

ttq, hmm, sounds like you were more determined than i. That was my only attempt at running away. How did that work out for you?

QT said...

I never did any running away until I was in my teens. I believe I shaved years off my parents lives...

Mmm...the nilla wafers remind me of the south as well!

Tink said...

My littlest brother used to threaten he'd run away. When asked about his plans he'd say...

"I'm going to Disney World and live in the trees and eat bananas."