I wouldn’t say that I am a troublemaker at all. I usually always follow the rules, never have bad intentions with any of my actions, and strive to be fair and just in all that I do. With that being said, I do have a tendency to rebel a bit when it comes to once in a lifetime experiences, especially when I am told no. In this post, I will reveal 3 shocking things that I have done against my parents will. No worries, they already know at this point so I won’t be getting grounded.
Breaking and Entering
OK, OK, so my parents never specifically said “Don’t break and enter” because that would be kind of strange if your family is not a group of bank robbers, but they did tell me to always follow the law. There was this ONE time that the potential experience outweighed the consequence with the law and well…I went for it. I am pretty sure this is the start to the making of a full time criminal in most cases but as you read, I have only broken the law ONCE and here it goes.
Back when I was 19 years old, a very famous and historical amusement park in Memphis had closed. I was at my company Christmas party and we were all discussing how we wished we could have went one last time. Being super busy around the holidays, no one had made plans to visit our childhood fun land before the gates closed for good and the reminessing had everyone jones for one last ride. It was not me who raised the finger with an idea, but I must admit, I was thrilled to be going along.
We hopped in the car and headed over to the desolate theme park. The gates were chained but the gap was large enough for the 9 of us to fit through. We slipped in unnoticed and began re-experiencing the park in a way we never had as kids. We went down the waterless waterslide, jumped in bumper cars and pushed each other around, and dared each other to go into the pitch dark fun house. About an hour and a half into our escapade, one of us, still not me, had the idea to climb to the top of the tallest roller coaster in the park and overlook the neighborhood. The view was amazing on this cloudless night, we sat atop the hill, told our favorite stories of the park, and discussed our sadness of the roller coaster being disassembled in just a few days.
Out of nowhere, lights began to flash. The law had arrived. I guess sitting on top of a roller coaster in an abandoned, no-tresspassing amusement park is not the brightest idea. Luckily, one of the members in our party knew the police (he may or may not have been a cop himself- I plea the 5th) and explained our stupid decision to law enforcement. They chuckled a bit and told us to scurry on before more police arrived. We all went home and still reminisce to this day on our adventure over 10 years ago when we bump into each other about town. Moral of the story, there is something to be said for being a goody ONE shoe.
Tattoos
Honestly, I was not a fan of tattoos at all. I thought they were cool but not necessarily attractive. I am proud to say that I lived 27 years on this earth tattoo free, and then I crossed over to the more artistic side of life. My ex-husband was fully sleeved. As you can imagine, I felt a little bare next time him without any sort of art so I drew out a roman numeral and a greek lettering tattoo and made a trip to the parlor. Both tattoos were very simple and small and I was satisfied with just these two tattoos until a life changing event took place.
My little brother died suddenly in a car accident over 3 years ago. (His story here) I was 28 when this tragic accident took place. I found myself coming up with little tributes for him. I would say in my head “this is the last thing I can ever do for him as his sister.” For instance, I bought him an angel statue to look over his grave until his headstone came because I love him but also, “because it was the last gift I would ever be able to give him.” I got a fairly large tribute tattoo for him on my back that took several hours. It was pretty painful but in my mourning mind I sat there and told myself, the pain he felt that night was much greater and I can get through this for him. This was the last thing I could do for him as his sister. I swear I could hear him laughing in my ear, rooting me on. It is crazy what a broken mind will conjure up. My parents made us promise not to get tattoos and now they have tribute tattoos of their own. Moral of the story, peer pressure is real, even if it comes from heaven.
Leaving the Country Solo
It is crazy the amount of fearless spontaneity one has in their early age. It was my 2nd year of college and I was focused on experiencing all that life had to offer. One very basic day, I came up with a very brilliant idea. God gave us this world to cease and I intend on doing just that. I had never been out of the country, except to Mexico and on a cruise, but had always wanted to visit the UK. I saved up every bit of money that I could in 3 months, signed myself up for a foreign exchange program, and then broke the news to my parents. They DID NOT want me to go but knew that once my mind is set, there really is no changing it.
I left for England with $800 cash in my pocket, excited to explore a new world. On the bus ride from London’s Heathrow airport to my new residence in Bournemouth, I befriended a fellow American. She had been in England for 2 years and invited me to a house party she was throwing that night. I excitedly accepted the invitation. I couldn’t believe that on the first night I would be making so many friends!
Long story short, there were a lot of fishy activities happening at the party and somehow, my entire amount of money was removed from my bag, never to be seen again. All of the sudden I was completely broke and too prideful to tell my parents for fear of an “I told you so!” I was not able to get a work visa and had no way to eat. I found a job doing tours of the University for 10 pound a tour. I would do two tours a week giving me about 20 pounds total to eat on. I left for the UK in a size 4 pant and came home with size 0’s falling off of me. Thank the Lord I prepaid for my home so I had a warm bed, but I rationed my food to last the entire 6 months. Although I was faced with a major set back, I still had one of the most memorable experiences of my life and I feel that the memories were even greater because I had no money. I was forced to experience my physical surroundings in a whole other light. Moral of the story, have a bank account set up before moving out of the country and guard your trust!
I love revealing the shocking truth and will be saving more details of my past in later posts so be sure to sign up to receive my weekly newsletter! I would love to hear more about your crazy stories! Please leave them in the comments below.
