1. The Bard of Wigan

    The Bard of Wigan New Member

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    At what age did you leave home?

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by The Bard of Wigan, May 20, 2008.

    I was 16 when I left home, I couldn't wait to get out.

    I think that this has an effect on my writing for the positive. Anyone over 21 still at home isn't trying.
     
  2. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I left a week after high school to join the USAF. I was 18.


    Don't be so hard on those still lving with the 'rents. I returned to my parents home after the Air Force so that the money I had saved would allow me to pay for university without having to work. It was thier wish so that I could focus on my studies. Plus my parents are actually really cool.


    It's not always so cut and dry. :rolleyes:
     
  3. Rumpole40k

    Rumpole40k Banned

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    20. No real story behind it, it was just time.
     
  4. The Bard of Wigan

    The Bard of Wigan New Member

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    Maybe you're right.

    I always have to laugh at those who pontificate about everything and everyone without ever having stood on their own two feet.

    It's like a poet who only writes from the brain rather than the soul. Structurally they're right, spiritually they're void of any true meaning.
     
  5. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Hmmm..... Although your reply is somewhat ambiguous in its tone, I’m going to choose not to take umbrage. :rolleyes:

    I’m 38 now, so my return to the home of my parents in order to attend university is years and years in the past.

    There are cultural aspects to this question that also come into play. I am traditionally Latino and the oldest male child. It is expected for me to remain with my parents, helping them, until such time as I marry. This is common in traditional cultures which have very tight familial bonds and which answer to different definitions than those found in nontraditional cultures.

    Well, I’m gay, so the getting married part just ain’t gonna’ happen. Leaving for the Air Force directly after high school was a shock to my family and I received many phone calls from extended family members obviously in cahoots with my parents to try and talk me out of it.

    Like I said, not always so cut and dry. :rolleyes:
     
  6. Domoviye

    Domoviye New Member

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    I left at 21. I'd have left sooner, but I didn't have a car to make it halfway across the country to Alberta. I also did my first year of University at home, otherwise I would have had to wait another year due to lack of money.
    And than I moved back at the age of 25. So some people thought I was a Momma's boy who didn't want to leave. Proved them wrong by leaving at 26 and going to China.
     
  7. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I left college the first time before I was 20, and at that point reinvented my life from the ground up - moved into my own place, found a job, broke off al contact with family. I only had enough money to feed me to my first paycheck, and as that was before I actually HAD the job, it was no walk in the park.

    That was over 30 years ago, and I've managed pretty well.

    But I don't make a point of laughing at other people. I respect most people until I have been given reason not to.
     
  8. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    17... went west, 'to seek my fortune'... the lure of 'exotic' LA was too much to resist, since my older sister was out there and i was still stuck in the boring suburbs of NYC...

    exactly 40 years later, i left home again... that time, left both my home and my old self behind to became 'maia' and wander the world homeless and possessionless for a decade, before settling here on tinian, when i got too old to keep schlepping all over the planet...
     
  9. The Bard of Wigan

    The Bard of Wigan New Member

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    Wow I'd love to be stuck in either of those places to live.

    I had two incredibly dull spells in Dublin Ohio and Pittsfield Mass when I was younger, dull people, dull places. But New York. . . . . .well that's different.
     
  10. The Bard of Wigan

    The Bard of Wigan New Member

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    You're reading into something that doesn't exist. I'm merely making observations not judging you. After all, I would be a little off mark to assess you or anyone else as an individual based on a few comments on forum.

    :)
     
  11. silverfrost

    silverfrost New Member

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    I'm not so sure what you mean by "leaving home." 'Cause I left home when I was seventeen-years-old to go to college, but I was still dependent on my parents. I just graduated from college nine days ago, and yet I still moved back in with my parents and I'm financially dependent on them. Finding a full-time job out of college is much harder than anyone ever thinks it will be. Perhaps after I get a job, I'll find my own place.
     
  12. The Bard of Wigan

    The Bard of Wigan New Member

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    To be fair silverfrost it was probably a poorly thought out thread that I posted, as from country to country, culture to culture it differs greatly.

    You do what you need to do and good luck with your life my friend.
     
  13. silverfrost

    silverfrost New Member

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    No way--I think it was a fair question. :) I guess people do think of it differently from culture to culture, though.
     
  14. lordofhats

    lordofhats New Member

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    18 (If going away to college for 2/3 of the year counts as moving out), but I do return for Christmas and the Summer.
     
  15. Gone Wishing

    Gone Wishing New Member

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    Unofficially, 14. Officially, 16.
     
  16. lessa

    lessa New Member

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    I left home at 17 to get a job in the big city of Toronto.
    Went home at 19 to go to college.
    Really left home at 20 to get married.
    Never went home again but my two son's are welcome to back home
    whenever the need may arise. Families included.
    what else are mom's and dad's for besides love.
     
  17. ChimmyBear

    ChimmyBear Writing for the love of it. Contributor

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    I was in and out of my mom's house around 14 maybe 15.

    I was 17 when I moved out to get married......not my best decision.
     
  18. Crazy Ivan

    Crazy Ivan New Member

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    I ran away from home when I was 6, to avoid going to Wal-Mart. I was gone three hours. My parents never noticed.
    But I tell you, those three hours helped me grow as an individual. They provided valuable life experience.
     
  19. Torana

    Torana Contributor Contributor

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    lol I was expecting something like that from you Ivan :p

    I left when I was 18. Moved out after getting my first decent job and went to live with a total baffoon....had two kids.....walked out.....now I'm 24 with two kids, 4 and rising 3 and back with my parents.

    I stay here to help my parents out financially and around the house as well. My mom has a terminal illness, and my father has a broken disk in his spine or something like that....I forget now. I was so little when it happened.

    But that will all change once me and my partner get everything sorted and I move closer to him........
     
  20. Kit

    Kit Contributor Contributor

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    I will be moving out in September, can't move out yet because i'm still 17 and its hard to actually move out here without parental consent unless you run away and become homeless, are leaving care or get pregnant and get a council house. Even with parental consent, most people privately letting a property won't let to an under-18 due to extra regulations they have to follow and the whole "immaturity" aspect.

    Still, i'll move out a month after I turn 18 - which is September. I've already paid the deposit on a place just finishing my exams and stuff.

    On a side note, just because you live with your parents doesn't always make you dependent on them. Since I turned 16 I have supported myself well enough, and I work usually 24 hours a week around my full-time education. I paid for my own driving lessons, car and insurance and now I still pay for my own food, fuel, toiletries and clothes. Before I could drive, I paid for bus fare and stuff.

    (Occasional exception with food, if mum cooks for the whole family I do usually get fed. But I have to buy my own food whilst i'm at school or work, and only usually get one meal a day, if any, provided).
     
  21. Frost

    Frost Active Member

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    I dont live at home now - I go to boarding school, so 15.
    But im still dependant on my fam and go home in the holidays.
    I suppose Ill leave again come uni time.
     
  22. tehuti88

    tehuti88 New Member

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    I am 31 and still at home, due to being disabled (I receive disability from the government and am in therapy) from severe social anxiety. So I'm not sure what I'm not "trying" hard enough. :confused:

    I write very frequently and prolifically though.
     
  23. Charisma

    Charisma Transposon Contributor

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    Don't know when I'll leave home, and don't really care. I hate the idea of having to leave home (and don't give me the reason of 'cultural differences'). It's not supposed to obligatory, IMO. It's everyone's choice.
    If it were in my hands I'd keep my parents with me all my life. Of course, anyone willing to live away might as well do so, it's a personal choice. :) I, as I mentioned, despise the idea.
     
  24. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    bard... on the 'small world' front, i had relatives in pittsfield, spent some summers across the road from pontoosic lake...
     
  25. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I lived in Sewickley for a summer when I was a kid. Does that count? :D
     

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