My Child

My child
She is 17 years old and ran away on June 24, '2003.
She is not abused and I (her mother) am not on drugs.
I set certain boundaries for her but she didn't feel they were adequate.
She was to vacuum twice a week and inform me of where she was going and whom she was with.
I told her she couldn't date a 22 year old.
She didn't like my rules. She said none of her friends had these rules.
She said "Why can't you be a normal mom?"
I thought I was being one.

I was pregnant with her when I was 17. I was trying to prevent history from happening.
Well, so far so good. She is not pregnant yet. But she ran away.
She will not speak to me or let me know where she is staying.
I have not slept since she's been gone and all I do is cry for hours at a time.
I cry after the other children are in bed, I cry before they get up, I cry in the car and while I talk to people, I cry at work, I cry all the time.
I miss her so much!
What have I done so wrong?

she is an honor roll student, in FCCLA, in Speech and Drama, in National Honor Society, in the book of Who's who among high school students, she is a DARE Roll Model, she is taking dual-enrollment college courses in her Junior year of high school, in Model UN...
I don't understand what went so wrong. I don't want to see her life get lost but the police said she can leave if she chooses.

I just wish she would come back home and realize the rules at home are not as bad as she's making them to be.
I know life is hard at 17 cause I've been there.
It's so hard to deal with the one person who you gave your teenage life up for is the same one who wants nothing to do with you at the same age.

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