Learning over time that the amount I was physically sheltered as a child wasn’t even close to being normal. I always had my suspicions but as an adult I’m learning that even my extended family was concerned about how much my brother and I were being protected by our parents.
Apparently they had this deep fear that we’d get stolen. We weren’t even allowed to play in our own backyard that had a privacy fence without adult supervision until I was like eleven.
Lots of freedom of thought in that household I grew up in. Not so much freedom of movement. It’s kinda amazing to me I figured out how to get myself around so easily as an adult. It turns out I don’t actually have a bad sense of direction like I always thought I did. I just spent my whole childhood and part of my early adult life essentially being escorted from one place to the next by my dad or grandparents or family friends. I never knew where I was because I never had to figure out where to go. People just took me there.
I understand the city I live in now far better than the city I grew up in. I couldn’t tell you where anything is in my hometown except by the name of the shopping center it’s close to.
Where I live now? I almost always know which cardinal direction I’m facing, what bus routes I’m near, which street or corner this or that shop or friend’s house is on.
As a kid I didn’t even know the way around my own neighborhood. I didn’t until college when I had large chunks of the day to myself away from my family. That’s crazy. I know that now. That’s weird.
I love my parent to pieces but dude why were you so confused that I didn’t know where anything was? You had me moving in a pod between various boxes my whole life because you thought someone was gonna like jump out of a van and snatch me if you didn’t.