Childhood Memory 🦄

I went for a walk today on a rainy hill at 6 pm after feeling a little lazy the whole day and what was supposed to be a 15 minute walk turned into a 1.5 hour long walk which felt quite great to be honest ☺️ We were talking about alot of things and touching on different topics when I remembered a story from my childhood that I had to share because we were talking about rebellious kids and how in Liechtenstein: the kids walk back from school to home.

"That's crazy to think" I said, "Nowhere in the world do kids walk back home on their own"

But then I remembered the day I walked back home: without my parents ever knowing my plan to do so

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I was roughly in 3rd grade when the plan to walk back home struck me

I am a big girl, I thought to myself

I can do it and everyone would be so proud, I said to myself as I planned the escape from school

So when the school day ended, my game began

First, I saw the little back wall that separated the school from the neighbourhood and even though I was not tall enough, I could still manage to jump and hang over to one side so that I can get enough upper body strength to pull myself up to eventually jump over the wall to the neighbourhood I succeeded in doing so and I was out of the school on my own

The air of independence felt like a feeling that I never felt before but somehow longed for. Thinking back to it now ,it seems like a sepia toned vision of the world where I could see the street and the trees in the most beautiful form.

I felt independent and free but I did not know how to walk back home and that is where my task began as I navigated the streets. The people stared at me wondering how a child is walking all alone. They were stunned but they did not approach me to help me or ask any questions.

They let me be, they let me be free

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My mother started panicking as she could not spot me in the pool of kids who were rushing out of the school

She tried controlling her feelings but she is someone who cannot hide what she feels: neither in expressions and nor in behaviour

After nearly 1 hour of wait, her heart sank as she searched inside the school with the teachers to look for me

Maybe in the girls toilet? or under the desk? Maybe she got accidentally locked in a room?

A call had been made to my military father about my disappearance

And the mad panic began ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I walked through the streets I was very often enamoured by the beauty around me of simple things

I loved the way the butterfly sat on the park bench or how the two dogs kept barking at each other and I could watch them by standing really close to them without anyone pulling me away

"If I had money I could buy an ice-cream that my mom says tastes like toothpaste but I love it" , I said to myself but of-course the bane of freedom as a child was the absolute dearth of adult money so I just stood there and observed things around me

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My mother panicked and cried after reaching home, surrounded by her friends who consoled her with verbal bandages

"Ah maybe she went to a friends house to play after school"

"Maybe she followed someone who she thought was her mom but she will find her way back home"

All those words and scenarios meant nothing to my mother and to her swollen heart and eyes

On the other hand my father did what an analytical military man would do: dispatched search teams to look for a tiny and brown haired girl with a blue backpack, probably walking around the streets

The police were informed and the search spread out around the city with locals chipping in to find me

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After 5 hours of mindlessly wandering through and making my way through the woods, I saw my house.

Ahhhhh, I breathe a sigh of relief

I was excited to see my parent's reaction to me, in my own naive mind I expected pride, awe and joy

I proudly walked in to a room where I could hear my mom and other women talking

She had just stopped wailing and was drinking a glass of water with her red puffy face drenched in tears

We did not exchange words but made a quick eye contact and I knew I was in trouble

She exclaimed: "YOU!! WHERE DID YOU GO?!"

I said, "I just wanted to walk back home by myself"

My mistake was I smirked because I did not know why there was such a big deal anyway

The ladies just watched me and my mother in shock, not knowing what to do or if it is appropriate to interfere in family matter

My mother charged towards me while saying "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?! COME HERE"

At that moment I realised that I am in trouble, that I have managed to create chaos at home again I immediately turned around and ran as fast as I could from her, while one of the lady ran after me

The others consoled and held back my mom

"She is just a kid" they said while holding my mom as her face turns a different kind of red

The mad kind of red, instead of the sad kind of red

And for me? Well I ran fast but was eventually caught, the lady put me up on a vespa and said "You can stop now, your mom is mad but it is because she cares" By that time I had forgotten why I was running in the first place because in my mind I did nothing wrong to be on the receiving end of my mother's fury

"Here, take this candy" the lady said as she put me down, held my hand and walked me back home I walked silently while eating the red candy

When I arrived back home, my mom was calm, dad just smiled at me, brother was clueless and dinner was served

Meet the culprit:

A small Noops