Jimmy Runs Away

There were times when my brother Jimmy was about five or six years old, that he had his own little game of running away from home.

This usually occurred at the end of the day and mostly in those good weather days of late spring or summer.  Most of the time, after supper and while mama, daddy, baby Dennis, Bonnie and I were still seated at the table following the meal. Jimmy would appear in the kitchen while carrying a paper bag or box filled with a few of his favorite toys.  The conversation would begin as:

Jimmy:  Mama, I am going to run away.

Mama:  I am sorry that you are going away, Jimmy.  

Jimmy:  Bye, Mama, Daddy, Bonnie and Brenda and baby Dennis

Mama:  I love you, Jimmy.  Please come back home soon.

All:        We love you, Jimmy.

Jimmy would leave the kitchen, exit through the back porch, down the steps and walk to the end of the driveway.  

Mama would watch him leave through the front kitchen windows.

Jimmy would carefully cross the road and proceed to walk over the front lawns of the two houses adjacent to each other.  There were several trees that separated the two houses and Jimmy always selected the big tree that would conceal him completely.  We, along with mama, would look through the window and from time to time we could see little Jimmy peeking around from behind the tree. We are not sure what he did, only knowing he had a few toys to play with.  I suppose he had created his special place, like a tree house, only he was under the tree limbs.  Maybe he felt safe there knowing his family was across the road and he had the advantage of knowing we were all there.

Jimmy would stay behind his safe tree until the shadows of the fading day beckoned him that maybe it would be a good idea to return home before dark.  We watched as he cautiously moved from his tree, walked across the yard toward the road and back to our house. The return of our “prodigal son” went something like this:

Jimmy:  Returning through the back porch to the kitchen, I am home mama.

Mama:  Embracing him in her arms, Oh Jimmy, I am so happy you came back home!

Family: Hey Jimmy, glad you are back home!

Jimmy continued his “running away from home” game from age five to six.  After he began school and enlarged his circle of friends, he no longer appeared to need his special, safe tree and his imaginary playmates again.

I do not remember that mama or daddy ever reprimanded their little boy for this behavior.  We were left with their good example of being loving parents.

As an adult my brother Jim has had a successful career in business, a loving marriage that has lasted to this date over fifty years. As parents, their two sons have the same success in their lives as now adults in their early fifties.

Jim/s adventures created trust from parents to children. As a little boy, he always knew he could come back home to loving and welcoming arms of those family members who loved him.