Write Anyway

And a little bit of a story for me to share with you.

Today I’d like you to write about a wish you’ve made that came true. I know I don’t often share my responses to these prompts, so here you go…

Inspired by “One Day I’ll Fly Away” from Moulin Rouge (below)

All my life, I wanted to fly away. Leave everything and become my own woman in a place I had never been. I’d set out to run away several times, but I’d always get a short distance away and realize a child could in no way be safe in this world without any protection.

Not to mention I had no money.

I didn’t find anything particularly bad about my family then because I didn’t know anything better, but I knew I had this urge in me to leave. The strongest urge I had ever known then.

I finally got my chance to fly away - as much as I could - in my second year of college. I moved four hours away from the life I knew, and it was glorious. I met many new friends, including three people I grew very close to. One person was troubled, though, by the past. His accounts of his past helped him as a way of therapy, but unfortunately made me start having flashbacks.

Flashbacks to bad, bad things in my childhood.

Another one of those friends turned into my boyfriend not long after we’d met; the connection was an instant one. He helped me through the flashbacks. He also helped me to realize the things I considered normal in my family life weren’t normal. I started asking around, as subtly as I could, and found he was completely right.

I was afraid to go home, but I knew that someday - hopefully someday soon, I could leave and join my boyfriend where he lived.

It didn’t take long for me to go into a deep depression. I had to hide it though, because I was threatened with being put in a psychiatric ward.

[The rest of that is too hard to write right now and is upsetting me, so I hope you don't mind if I skip over things.]

My then fiancé (now husband) had been putting money away to get me a plane ticket, though, so when it became possible my life was in danger, I flew out to Australia to be with him. We got married almost five months ago, and life has been good.

One Day I’ll Fly Away