By: A.B. Timothy
In life, there are doors, crossroads, pathways, and many other metaphors for progression/traveling as your life passes you by. One of those major events, or metaphors, is often a child leaving the home to live on their own. This can happen multiple times, even once when they go off to college, and then again once they finally use that degree and land a job that pays them well enough to get out from under their parents’ roof. In most stories, however, it happens once (because that makes for better drama). In my new book, The Shards of Arthur’s Shield, the hero, Thomas, is on track to leave his parents’ house at sixteen when he is to be betrothed to their local lord’s daughter. This will allow him to save his mother, who has been sick constantly since Thomas was a boy. He is sacrificing what he desires to do (find a real connection) for the betterment of his parents. This was common in those days; children served their parents. I have no qualms with this mentality, as back then, people would have lots of children to help bear the load their parents would otherwise have to bear by themselves. Thomas is given the opportunity, however, to pursue his dream and run off to the big city and compete in a betrothal tournament for the king’s daughter. This is representative of the chance that few children have to go away and make it big, either through college or an artistic endeavor. Perhaps if they fail, as Thomas promises to do, they will come back home and do what was originally expected of him. If they make it, however, they can potentially bring their whole family up with them.
We, as authors, use themes like these in our stories all the time to talk about human problems and human realities. We tell stories, oftentimes, that are thinly veiled representations of real-life struggles we, or someone we know, has gone through. Those can make the best stories sometimes because, as they say, you gotta write what you know.
Why is this on my mind? Well, I am taking one of those big steps in my life. I am moving out from underneath my mother’s roof and into my own living space. I love my mother dearly and want to give her the world, but I also want and need freedom to prove to myself that I can be the man that my future wife will need me to be.
What’s your story like? When did you take that big step or have you had children take that big step away from you already? Let me know in the comments below or by tagging me in a post on X at the link below. Happy writing!