# When, and how did you leave the nest?



## fuzzybuddy (Nov 22, 2021)

I doubt most of us still live with our parents. How did you leave the nest?  As for me, homelife was not great, in 1966, I put some clothes in bag, and took the bus out of town. No job, didn't have a place to stay that night. I had a whole $200 to my name. What's your story?


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## Pinky (Nov 22, 2021)

Had recently turned 20, was sent a train ticket by older sisters to live and work in Toronto. It was a given that I would leave our tumultuous home-life, just as they did. That left my 12 year old brother back in the nest. I felt badly for our mother though, as she was not the reason any of us chose to leave.

I immediately got a job that wasn't suitable, then another which I didn't like .. then another, which I stayed at for almost 20 years.

I'm still in Toronto (since 1967) .. would not want to live anywhere else.


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## Don M. (Nov 22, 2021)

When I was 18, and the Vietnam War was getting going, I could feel the Draft Board breathing down my neck.  Being basically a coward, with little desire to be trapped in a jungle with gunfire all around me, I joined the USAF, and left home for good.


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## AnnieA (Nov 22, 2021)

Left the fall after HS graduation for undergrad.  I came back home the summer after my Freshman year and missed my college friends so much that I took summer courses and jobs after that to stay in the college town.  

Graduated in 3 1/2 years and headed to the big city (Jackson MS  ) for microbiology grad school.


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## Aunt Bea (Nov 22, 2021)

I was lucky.

My mother and my stepfather told me I could stay rent free as long as I continued to help with chores, saved my money, and stayed out of trouble.

They also told me that when I left I would not be able to move back in.

When I finally did leave I think it caused some additional strain to their marriage because I was sort of a buffer or diversion for them both.

Anyway, the additional time at home gave me a good debt free start with money in the bank. I thank them both for that.


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## squatting dog (Nov 22, 2021)

Bad home life for me, so, left home in 1965. Bounced around until 1968 when Uncle Sam called me. Took over 38 years to reconcile with my dad. (thanks to my wife)  Glad we got together and buried the past before he passed.


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## Mrs. Robinson (Nov 22, 2021)

I was 17 and in my third month of Senior Year in high school. Hubby just home from Basic Training. We had been engaged for a year and knew he would be sent to Viet Nam. Wanted to be married before that happened. As it turned out,Martin Luther King was killed and knowing that there would likely be riots,his unit was kept in the States (National Guard). Our parents were not on board,due to our ages,but finally relented when they heard that we planned on eloping to Idaho,where we could get married at 16 and 18 without a parent signature. We likely would never have had the guts to do that,but it worked. We`ve been laughing the last few months that it took us 54 years to finally run away to Idaho,but here we are LOL!


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## hawkdon (Nov 22, 2021)

Went in the navy in '57 and stayed for 8 yrs...then came back and started life.....


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## Ruth n Jersey (Nov 22, 2021)

I graduated high school and the next fall started nursing school. Our only expenses were books and uniforms as we worked our way through at the hospital..
Once I graduated and began working I lived at home and paid rent.
I left the day I got married and my mom and dad gave me back every cent I had paid in rent. This along with my savings and the money my hubby had saved made a nice down payment on our first house which was something I much preferred than a big wedding.


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## David777 (Nov 22, 2021)

Don M. said:


> When I was 18, and the Vietnam War was getting going, I could feel the Draft Board breathing down my neck.  Being basically a coward, with little desire to be trapped in a jungle with gunfire all around me, I joined the USAF, and left home for good.


Same here.  In 1966 at almost age 18,  they ended college deferments so I was looking at being drafted and likely carrying an M16 in some mosquito, leach, and poisonous snake infested Mekong Delta swamp listening to buzzing bullets. Thus took USN and USAF tests, scored high,  that landed me directly into an electronics maintenance career field where I would be stationed on bases. So parents dropped me off at the Hartford airport and flew to San Antonio for basic training.


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## squatting dog (Nov 22, 2021)

David777 said:


> Same here.  In 1966 at almost age 18,  they ended college deferments so I was looking at being drafted and likely carrying an M16 in some mosquito, leach, and poisonous snake infested Mekong Delta swamp listening to buzzing bullets. Thus took USN and USAF tests, scored high,  that landed me directly into an electronics maintenance career field where I would be stationed on bases. So parents dropped me off at the Hartford airport and flew to San Antonio for basic training.


Lucky man. Wish I had been as smart as you,But, I wasn't.


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## bowmore (Nov 22, 2021)

Shortly after I graduated college, I got a job in Ohio. My parents (bless them) drove out with me. They left me the car, and I took them to the airport for their trip home.
I watched them get on the plane, saw the plane take off, and watched it until it disappeared. On the drive back from the airport, I said to myself,"Well you are on your own now". I was barely 20 years old, and I never looked back.
Two years later, I was a Field Engineer traveling to Japan, Korea and Okinawa. My parents had a world map to keep track of me.


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## Murrmurr (Nov 22, 2021)

I got married. We'd just graduated high school. My parents and grandparents gave us enough $$ to live on for 3 months, so I had 3 whole months to find work. Found a job at a service station within a week. It was only a few blocks from our apartment, but we used part of the money my folks gave us to buy a cheap car. By the fall, I was also attending college (that's why we needed the car) and we got pregnant. So, I found a higher paying job and a bigger place; a house with a yard. Grant was born the following spring, college got interrupted, I took an even better job, repeat X3, and then she left...my wife did.

And as a single dad, I pretty much stuck with that pattern; took classes, moved to where I could get a better job, repeat. 
Through various college courses I earned either a BA degree or a job-related certification or license. I've been a lithographer, a psychiatric technician, a heavy equip operator, a phlebotomist, a CNA, a Residential Care Specialist and then Behavioral Specialist (for the developmentally disabled), and a Search/Retrieve diver (scuba). There's at least a couple more I can't think of right now. Oh! Most recently; a foster parent license, but there's a couple of others too.


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## Llynn (Nov 22, 2021)

Graduated from HS at 17. Found a job in the town where I would attend college and moved there a month after HS graduation.  Never lived in the nest again. My moving on took some of the burden off my hard working Mother.


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## moviequeen1 (Nov 26, 2021)

I lived with my parents  after I graduated from college before I found a job
I moved out in '77,lived in my 1st apt which ironically was around the corner from my childhood home. Then I moved into my co op apt in '88 where I've been ever since,its 2 blocks away from childhood home


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## Paco Dennis (Nov 26, 2021)

David777 said:


> Same here.  In 1966 at almost age 18,  they ended college deferments so I was looking at being drafted and likely carrying an M16 in some mosquito, leach, and poisonous snake infested Mekong Delta swamp listening to buzzing bullets. Thus took USN and USAF tests, scored high,  that landed me directly into an electronics maintenance career field where I would be stationed on bases. So parents dropped me off at the Hartford airport and flew to San Antonio for basic training.


About the same here with a little twist. First I was busted for drug possession  when 17 and the only way my Dad would let me stay at home was to join the service. So I tried the Air Force and then the Navy, but neither would have me because of the drug conviction. ( I got probabation..and a $2000 fine-my Dad paid ) BUT the Army would. I tested very high and they told me I could have my choice in electronics. The day I went to enlist I backed out, and got thrown out.

Irony

 In a about a year from then I was going to get drafted ( my birthday lottery pick for the war was 63...they were taking kids up to like 130 that year! ) so I became a "Concienscious Objector".


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## Pepper (Nov 26, 2021)

I went on a European journey with some friends and when we finally landed in Zurich I just stayed and could never go back to living with parents again when I got home a year later, as I was used to doing my own "thing(s)!"  We always maintained an excellent, close relationship despite my many adventures.  

Prior to this trip I began staying with various friends for lengths of time, so kind of drifted into my own life.

It definitely helped that things were so cheap.  I'd fly back & forth to Europe, particularly England for only $100. bucks!  Then I just stayed there for a few.  I couldn't have done any of this in today's economy.


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## StarSong (Nov 26, 2021)

Like some others, my home life was more than a little tense and dysfunctional - I had to get out for my psyche to survive. 

Los Angeles rents were low, apartments were plentiful, entry level jobs were common, there were plenty of dirt-cheap colleges and universities in the area and nearly everyone had roommates. We shared costs and pooled resources - one had a fridge, the other had a color TV - that kind of thing. 

It wasn't difficult to get enough traction to pay for housing, go to school and/or find a good job. In the early 1970s, Baby Boomer kids "owned" Los Angeles. It was a great time to be young in So Cal.


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## Knight (Nov 26, 2021)

1959 @ 18 had a job assured with Kroger as a retail butcher. Meant being stuck in the same town. Not happy with that as a future I joined the Navy.
Never looked back & never regretted my choice.


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## Smiley Holly (Nov 26, 2021)

I left the nest after I completed college and really wanted to move out. I got this hole in the wall apartment that my mom was not very pleased about and actually cried and pleaded for me to stay home. My dad was more you need to face life mentality. Grant it also I was 23 years old at the time and I was in the early stages of  my transitioning from a Male to a Female. I was determined to make this work and I did somehow.


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## WheatenLover (Nov 26, 2021)

I moved to Florida in July to go to college. I was 2 months from being 18. Spent 2 months with my best friend in 10th grade. Her father ran a resort in Ft. Lauderdale. Her dad ran a resort a block from the beach. We had a lot of fun.


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## Alligatorob (Nov 26, 2021)

At 17 my home left me.

  I had a good home life, no real problems.  After finishing high school I got a summer job in Wyoming, and my parents moved to Oregon.  Then in the fall I went to college in Utah and never moved home again.  Not planned that way at the time, just happened.  No regrets, things worked out fine.

Used to joke that my parents sent me out to play and then moved!


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## Sassycakes (Nov 26, 2021)

Right before I got married my future Husband got drafted it was during the Viet Nam war. We got married when he was on leave and I was 20yrs old at the time. I stayed home until he got out and then we bought our first house.


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## Gary O' (Nov 26, 2021)

fuzzybuddy said:


> What's your story?


Grabbed a freight train in my teens
Small bag, jug of water

Never looked back


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## Pepper (Nov 26, 2021)

Alligatorob said:


> Used to joke that my parents sent me out to play and then moved!


That actually happened to my father.  It was during the depression and his mother moved with the kids several times a year.  He found them!


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## Pecos (Nov 26, 2021)

I joined the Navy right after HS when I was 17.


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## Gaer (Nov 26, 2021)

My parents and brother moved from Montana to California after I graduated from high school.  
I felt I was a burden to my parents, so I hopped on a bus and went back to Montana.  I got a job and rented an apartment
because I wanted to be on my own.


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## Murrmurr (Nov 26, 2021)

Pecos said:


> I joined the Navy right after HS when I was 17.


My brother was able to enlist in the Air Force at 17 because he'd be 18 by the time he finished boot camp.

Was that the same deal for you?

Dad joined the Navy at 17, but he lied about his age.


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## HoneyNut (Nov 26, 2021)

When I was 19 and in college, my boyfriend got a job in another state.  So, I dropped out of college (temporarily due to out-of-state tuition too high for my family to pay) and went with him.  We both returned the next year to resume college, but meanwhile my parents had moved away to a one-bedroom apartment in a city halfway across the country!  Sneaky!


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## Pecos (Nov 26, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> My brother was able to enlist in the Air Force at 17 because he'd be 18 by the time he finished boot camp.
> 
> Was that the same deal for you?
> 
> Dad joined the Navy at 17, but he lied about his age.


No, my parents had to sign for me. Which they were happy to do since we were not exactly getting along very well at the time.


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## Murrmurr (Nov 26, 2021)

Pecos said:


> No, my parents had to sign for me. Which they were happy to do since we were not exactly getting along very well at the time.


"Just sign here and he's outta your hair."

Their loss, the Navy's gain, Pecos.


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## Mr. Ed (Nov 26, 2021)

I moved out of my home nest after high school. Got taken advantage by a “friend” who moved in my apartment with a couple nesters. Moved back home. Met my wife to be while living at home. We eloped drove to central New York stayed a short time at my wife’s parents. Then I drove from New York to Salt Lake City Utah with only $200.00 in my pocket. Prior to driving westward I bought a heavy green plastic tarp from K-Mart. First night out it rained I stopped at a campground for the night. I bought four rubber tipped spears to hold the tarp off the ground.


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## Lewkat (Nov 26, 2021)

17 off to nursing school, then college, then to faraway places and never looked back except on holidays.  With my matriarch mom, you had better be there for every special occasion or else.  The only exception was being abroad.


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## dseag2 (Nov 26, 2021)

My story is a bit more "colorful".  I was 19, an only child, and lived at home in the late 70's.  I had grown up in a very strict Southern Baptist environment, so I couldn't wait to let loose. 

When I graduated High School I went out partying until the wee hours of the morning.  I would come home at 2 or 3 in the morning and "worship at the porcelain altar".  My dad could always hear me and would always knock on the bathroom door and ask me if I was okay.  God bless him.  He was so patient with me.

Finally, my dad said that he and my mother could no longer live with my lifestyle and late hours.  He said he would pay the rent for an apartment if I would leave home.  I moved to an apartment.  He came over the next day and said my mother missed me and I needed to visit her.  I did.

I never moved back home and continued my wild life style throughout college.  I eventually came to my senses and realized I needed to get serious about life.  I look back on it all and think it is amazing that I was able to build a decent life for myself, but then we all get that dose of reality at some point.


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