A Bad Halloween
Five years
ago, I had the worst Halloween ever.
I ran away
from home at twenty. That sounds funny,
seeing as at twenty years old you’re supposedly an “independent adult”. But, I wasn’t. I relied solely on my mother and stepfather
to support me and I was quickly reverting to childish pettiness and immaturity.
A wrong
decision about a boy got me thrown out of my parents’ home on Halloween. It had always been my favorite holiday. On this particular Halloween, I had plans that
night to hang with friends--to have a good time. To continue my existence as a worry-free girl
who drank too much and partied too hard.
So that
Halloween is burned into memory as the evening I had a final blow-out with my
mom. When she told me if I couldn’t stop
seeing this boy, then I just needed to pack my things and leave.
And it
wasn’t the boy, folks. It was never
TRULY about the boy. It was about being
20-years-old and being told who I could or could not date. It was about having to check in with my mother
every few hours to let her know where I was.
It was about a complete lack of freedom--freedom I had been given while away
at college for two years. The boy was
the straw breaking the camel... and he didn’t last very long after the
incident, anyway
I left. I rented a U-Haul. I enlisted the help of a couple friends. We packed my things while my parents changed
the locks on my home. We steered that
truck away and I cried.
Fast
forward a couple of weeks and I was penniless, waiting tables at Outback and
making coffee at Starbucks more hours than I was sleeping. I bounced from place to place as I realized I
couldn’t live with anyone because everyone drove me crazy. I ended up moving to Nashville where I only
spiraled even further into despair, poverty, and unhappiness.
I remember
vividly the next Halloween. I think I
was compensating for the lack of celebration the year before by carving 6 pumpkins
in various patterns--a vampire, a witch, a scaredy cat, etc. etc... They sure
looked fantastic on our little front porch but they didn’t give me back the
Halloween I lost.
It’s been 6
years. Life has returned to a state of
normalcy--my relationship with my mother is stronger than ever. I’m dating a wonderful man who is not only a
police officer, but works for my stepdad--instant success in the boyfriend
department from my mother and stepfather.
And my Daddy and stepmom love him too.
I’ve made a lot of bad decisions in my life, but that fateful Halloween
was the worst.
I’m just
glad it didn’t turn the tide on how I felt about the holiday. Today, I have two boxes full of Halloween
decorations that usually go up an entire month before. I look forward to it just like I used to--and
I remember the bad one with fondness.
Because
that decision ended up shaping the woman I have become. And this woman understands one crucial
thing...
Her parents
are ALWAYS right. It just took a little
bit of maturity to figure it out.
Heather Marie Adkins is an independent fiction novelist and
avid bibliophile with the library to prove it.
She writes across genres and began self-publishing her work in June of
2011—much to the chagrin of her mother.
Heather has five published books and two more coming out this year. She loves to garden, cook, and travel, and
would give anything to live in a cottage in Ireland. She currently resides in Kentucky with the
love of her life and 15 pets.
Find me online!
Check out my paranormal romance novels:
The Temple (ebook)
A girl with supernatural powers against a supernatural foe
she doesn’t believe exists.
Abigail (ebook)
A half-fairy, half-human girl who must unite with the
fairies she has long denied to save the humans she loves.
Heather, this was an amazing story. We all have made similiar mistakes at one point in our lives. You are lucky to have a forgiving mother. I have seen too many cases of mothers turning their backs on their daughters. I can just never understand how these parents can lose their instincts to forgive and love their children. Your mom is also lucky to have a daughter who is mature enough to admit mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peej *Sniff sniff* It took me a couple years to get to that point, but I'm the first to stand up and admit to my mistakes. And I am incredibly blessed to have my mom. She is an amazing woman and her love for me seems to run pretty damn deep ;)
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