How many here live far away from family?

[sp00ky]

How man people here live far away from your family, and how do you deal with it?

The reason I post is, my Dad has just sort of semi-retired.  He bought a cabin in the mountains about a 10 hour drive from me.

Now, I know 10 hours isn't that far, but I have little kids and the chances to see their grand dad have now dropped to maybe x2 / year.

I do have a lot of family here too, but I have a pretty good relationship with my Dad, and I guess I am having a hard time dealing with the fact he is leaving.

I'm 30 years old... you'd think it wouldn't be a big deal.

Anybody experience this before?  Any tips.

Thanks,

Scott

[jokabofe]

my parents live 5 blocks away from me. seriously. ask me, you're better off if they live further away.  

[dustrho]

My parents are about 20-30 minutes away depending on traffic, but I really wish I lived closer to them.  They're the most important part of my life.

[Morgbug]

My dad and stepmom live in Vancouver.  My sister and her family live in Vancouver.  My brother in laws and their families live in Saskatchewan.  My Mother-in-law just moved into town.  But yeah, I hear you.  Family is far away.  


On the lighter side, I still maintain that the only reason my parents (my mom passed away in 1999, dad remarried last year) left Winnipeg was to get me out of the house.

[jjks]

Two and a half years ago I moved 2000 miles from So Cal to Nashville due to work.  Makes the holidays a little rough...and has certainly been a culture shock on top of everything else.

24 more days until I fly home 2 weeks for Christmas and New Years, so that'll be fun though.

[JediMAC]

Two and a half years ago I moved 2000 miles from So Cal to Nashville due to work.

24 more days until I fly home 2 weeks for Christmas and New Years, so that'll be fun though.

Whereabouts is "home" back in OC Jamie?  I know you used to get together with Jobe from time to time, as I do now down in Tustin.  How close are you going to be to there?  Maybe the three of us could get together while you're out...  I'll probably be stopping by to see him when I'm down there over X-mas break (possibly even this upcoming weekend too).  Drop one of us a line if you want to try to get together! (or just Jobe if you think I'm an ass  )

Feel free to check with MisterPL as my reference for personal get togethers.  We hung out just a couple weeks ago when he was in town, and I'm sure he'd tell you that I'm safe and relatively sane...    (I think)

On topic, my parents bailed on SoCal about 6 years ago, and moved on out to Scottsdale, Arizona - so I can sympathize with the long distance pains here.  We see them a couple times a year now, as opposed to a couple times a month like before they moved out of Tustin.  Sucks pretty bad, and I'm sure if my sister or my wife ever pumped out some grandkids for them, they'd have probably stuck around...  

It's tough, so you just learn to better appreciate and make the most of the limited time that you do have when you occasionally get together.

My family also moved to Seoul, Korea for a while too.  I was with them for the first three years, which was tough since all the other friends and family in my life were left behind in So Cal.  Then it was tough when I graduated high school in Korea, and moved back to California for college (Santa Barbara), and my parents and sister stayed behind in Korea for another 3 years after that.  Got to see them three times a year, but just knowing that they were SO FAR away, across the world, made it very tough at times...

Good luck with things Scott.  Hopefully grand dad can visit the kids a little more often than you're anticipating...

[Mikey D]

I live in Mass, my parents live in South Jersey and my in-laws live near Hartford, CT, so yeah I live far away from family.  I talked the wife into moving down to Jersey (near Philly).  The only thing holding us back is the job search isn't going as well as I thought it would be.  Hopefully after the new year, the economy starts getting better and the job hunt will be a lot easier.

[Paul]

My parents live about 10 miles from us right now, but in a couple years they will retire to their cabin in the Mountains. (also about 10-11 hours away).

It is great having them so close on Weekends, because they love watching our 2 year old.

[Mister Skeezler]

I live in NYC, and my folks live in Massachusetts...about a 4 hour drive. It definitely is rough, since I wish I could see them more often. Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to move closer (and hopefully buy a house).

[Brian]

We actually live within a half an hour of my wife's parents, and about an hour away from my parents, which I guess isn't too bad after hearing many of your experiences.  We see them a fair amount, but we aren't usually able to do a whole lot, or stay a long time if we don't bring our dog along (he's a house dog, and we feel bad leaving him "locked up" for too long ).  For the most part our closest friends live a minimum of two hours away, so we don't get to see them as often as we would like either.

[MisterPL]

Feel free to check with MisterPL as my reference for personal get togethers.  We hung out just a couple weeks ago when he was in town, and I'm sure he'd tell you that I'm safe and relatively sane...    (I think)

Totally harmless. A perfect gentleman. Certainly no Michael Jackson.

I live in Pennsylvania and my entire family has migrated to Florida over the past 25 years.  First my grandparents, then my father, followed by my uncle, my aunt, and last year my mother. As an only child with two kids of my own, it sucks being so far away, especially for their sakes. I try to get down there once a year, but everyone lives in different cities and it's a struggle to see everyone.

My wife is the baby of nine kids. Her family is relatively close, about an hour away. That's a more comfortable distance, but still too far to rely on anyone for help or offer your own. We used to live closer and would babysit for each other all the time. We'll visit them for the holidays and the annual family picnic, but they rarely visit us.

[Mikey D]

Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to move closer (and hopefully buy a house).

In Massachusetts?  Good luck, the average house price in this state is $360,000 up from $324,000 last year.  House prices was actually one of the big reasons we decided to move out of state.  Just can't afford it.

[Scott]

My folks live about 45 minutes away her folks live 2 and half hours away, good distance on both since they can't just pop in.  It would be nicer to have them closer for childcare reasons though.

[jjks]

I'm born and raised in San Dimas, and definitely up for getting together when I get home, esp. if you're safer than Michael!

I talked to Jobe probably two months ago, and it'd be great to see him again. Too bad he doesn't post much anymore. I'll shoot you a PM whenever I get out there and we'll try to set something up.


Sorry for siderailing the conversation, carry on!