work in progress

running away again

"Oh so you are running away again" was how Steve responded when I told him I was leaving.
"It's not the only solution when a person has problems in their lives," he pointed out.

To be honest that sort of stopped me in my tracks. It had never opccurred to me before that not everyone dealt with their problems by running away after all, that was what I had always done.

I had got into this whole mess I am telling you about because of running away of course, Mam and I had suddenly plonked down in Dublin after we left New York. Mam had decided to marry Daryl, leave the US and turn her family back into the good little Irish family she had always been meant to have. Ireland had seemed so diffferent so small and sort of broken but it had also felt temporary. I had always expected Mam to up again and go somewhere else, but she never did. Daryl was nice of course, but he wasn't MY family. Anyway, I digress.

Running away had worked for Mam so I don't think it is that surprising that I decided to deal with those dark days in Dublin by running to London. Mind you when you tell people you were a teenage runaway in London in the 1980's, they expect gloom and darkness. We lived in squats, we encountered heroin addiction but somehow, I remember it all as a glorious adventure.

Firstly we saw ourselves as free, secondly we had money not a lot, obviously, but at home we had had none at all, and thirdly we were together. Together of course, until Maeve met the prince and went over into the darkness.

Niamh and I dealt with that by running away. I can't deny that. We moved right across the city and carried on living the same life. I know it is shameful to say this, but it was still fun. We finally ran off to Spain, that was fun too.

I always enjoy that whole experience of going to a new place and meeting new people. for at least a little while I feel like I am a new person too. I love to be new and fresh.