The Surprising Facts

I'm working on a flash fiction about a young woman who goes her own way because she doesn't feel she belongs in her family.  In short, she suffers from family dysmorphia. Speaking of following our own way, I tend to stray quite a lot when writing.  I end up looking up stuff on the internet under the pretense of "research," but mostly I'm just snooping around because I enjoy unusual facts.  

Yesterday I learned about marital ages.  Did you know that in Massachusetts, if your parents approve, you can marry at age 12?  What the heck?  And in New Hampshire, 13 year old kids can marry, with parental consent.  In Mississippi, 15 year olds can marry without parental consent. 

I'm also reading up on emancipation for teenagers.  If you're married, you can easily get emancipated.  If you're not, you'll need some parental support to be emancipated. If your parents support your emancipation, you're in the clear, even at age 14. Quite a few child stars have emancipated because they want to work more hours than is legally permissible for kids.  Interesting.  Do you know anyone who has been emancipated from their family?  I do not, but I'm super curious about how it all works.

If your parents are okay with it, you can drop out of high school at age 14 in many states.  It's hard to find out #s on how many kids drop out of high school at 14, so if you get some info on that, please share.  

I'm not sure if any of this info is relevant to the story, but I'm a lifelong learner and love to find answers to questions that pop into my head.  Not good for task completion, obviously, so, after blogging, I'm going to recommit to my story writing.  On this freezing cold day, (-1 degree) with absolutely no obligations, I should be able to finish off this flash fiction about family dysmorphia.  But who knows?  I can stretch out writing tasks like nobody's business.