Friday, March 9, 2007

Stress/Fear/Bonding

George delivered the Roswell daily paper during high school. One of his pet peeves was to go to a home to collect for the next month's papers, only to get an excuse--come back later.
The first of the month was stressful for him. This particular month, his mother had suggested that he not spend so much time with his girlfriend, Mary. To deal with the double stress, he decided to run away from home.

He drove the car he shared with his mother to a church fellowship. He didn't come home afterwards. Telephone calls to his friends produced no answers. Finally, I called the police and was told that they could do nothing unless I gave them permission to arrest him. I agreed.

Around 11:00 p.m. I finally received a call from a friend, who told me that George had gone to Ruidoso to spend the night with a former Sunday school teacher, whom I knew. A call to Ruidoso located him. I took the bus to Ruidoso, spent the night in the friend's motel, and drove home the next day with George. The bonding that took place was heart-warming. I gave no lectures or threatened punishment--I just listened and let him know that I loved him. He never ran away again .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My bro and I have always had a heart string between the two of us. I remember the accident and heard the sirens and knew something had happened. I remember it like it was yesterday!