if you live a great distance from your parents, do you regret moving?

[BombayBadGirl]

i've lived just over 100 miles from my parents now and am missing them really alot.
my husbands family is the main reason we moved to be closer to them and work wasn't very good in our original city so it made sense.
now our kids are in primary, husband is settled in work, but miss my parents.
i dont want it to be where they pass on and i didn't make the most of the time we could have together.

if you can contribute, it'll be greatly appreciated

[2rebecca]

100 miles doesn't seem far to me, that's easily visited for a weekend. Since I was 24 I've lived at least 250 miles away, currently an 8 hour drive.
I do miss my dad although he has an active social life.
When I initially moved away I'd miss them and want to visit them then when i was there would wonder why I'd been so keen to visit as I'd feel a bit smothered and happy to get back home again at the end of the weekend. I have always made an effort to join clubs wherever I've moved though and in many ways have little in common with my parents and more in common with my friends.
I love my family but seeing them every weekend would be too much.
Is the problem that you don't work, you only mention your husband's work. if the kids are at school you maybe need more to occupy you and give you a role.
Maybe moving near someone else's family is part of the problem as well as you maybe feel guilty for "choosing" your husband's parents over your own.
I still feel 100 miles isn't far though, maybe encourage your mum to visit you more and leave your brother to sort out his own kids and not burden her with his problems.

[missbopeep]

I've lived 300 miles from my parents for over 35 years.
It just worked out that way- my first job after uni, then married and DH's work meant we were still living a away.

I do regret it yes. it's become more of an issue now my parents are very old and I realise that we don't have much time left. Also, they are no longer well enough to travel to see us so it's all one-way, which is hard when we still work and have jobs and our own kids to see etc.

In your case OP a 100 miles is nothing- any journey which is 2 hours or less is do-able in a day- each way- so make the effort to travel or invite them to you.

[JustBecauseICan]

"I love my parents dearly"

Yep me too, strangely .

I haven't lived in the same country as them for the past 19 years.

You know what? Each and every one of us has one life. Just the one. If I had stayed in my home town I know I would always have been looking over yonder, wondering what it would be like.

I'm an only child, and my mother is a widow. I am closer now to her than I have ever been. When I lived and worked in the UK, I went home once every couple of months for a weekend and we spoke on the phone occasionally. Now at least 3 hrs a week on the phone, 3 weeks at Christmas, she comes to stay with us, we go to stay with her. She sees more of me, and we are closer, than my Aunt and her kids who live 3 streets away from her.

I actually find the idea of parents moving to be near their adult children very strange. I don't understand why, if they had their own interests/friends etc they would want to. I imagine it would put a lot of pressure on a relationship to suddenly have your parents do such a massive thing for you, leaving behind what I presume is a very "established" lifestyle and going somewhere (often) far away and totally new. I hope it works out for those of you doing it, but I think you are right to be a bit scared by such a big thing.

[queenbitchapparently]

My family moved to another country.
I miss my mum and the relationship she could have with the children and I worry about her as she get older and wish she would move back.

[wonkylegs]

My parents & siblings are 350 miles away, my IL an hour & half away. It works for us.
Sometimes I wish I could see my dad, sister & little brother a little bit more but my mum & other brother need to be far enough away that we get a long advance warning of visits as they are extremely emotionally draining and very hard work.
My ILs are close enough to be helpful but far enough away to not interfere.

[vvviola]

I live literally on the other side of the world to my parents (us in NZ, them in Ireland). I miss them nearly every day. I'm very close to them and try to talk via Skype every two or three days.

When we lived in Belgium we saw them about every 6 weeks. I haven't lived near them in about 5 years, and in the past 10 years have only been in the same country as then for 3 years. Still haven't got used to it.

We now live 2 hours from MIL & that's probably close enough for DH and I. DH thinks he'd like to live closer, but considering he gets irritated with her after about 10 minutes, and she has difficulties with boundaries I think the reality would be very different.

[GrrArgh]

I've always lived apart from my parents, since the age of 17.
I would like to see my dad more, yes. And I do miss the possibilities that living close would bring, just silly things like we could plan meetings after 2:30, that sort of thing, if someone could let themselves into the house and wait for hometime. Also the feeling that you don't get to know your parents forever.
Hmm.

[magicturnip]

I would rather be near my in laws to be honest. I wish we could be near them. 100 miles is not so far OP. we are a days travel away from either parents.

[HairyPorter]

Both sets of parents are a long haul flight away (10h and 13h). It would drive me nuts if they were closer. On the downside when they visit they stay for 4-6weeks.....

[happygoluckyinOz]

Since I left home to go to Uni when I was 19 I haven't lived within 200 miles of my parents. Now I live thousands of miles away over in Australia.

To be honest I haven't missed them much as up until now I have seen them about every 6 months (them coming here us going there) but it's been 9 months since I saw them and I'm starting to feel it! We don't have kids though so any help isn't the reason I miss them.

They are moving here in a couple of months because both me and my brother live here. I'm a mixture of excited and very nervous.... the distance has been good and I'm not sure how the dynamics are going to work with them living within a 30 minute drive (or closer!) I've even had my mum commenting on how she wants to come to the hospital when I'm in labour (I'm not even pregnant!) so I hope it's not suffocating.

I'm also feeling a bit guilty, the OH and I have plans to leave this part of Oz and live over the other side.... so putting another 5 hour flight between us!

[Twooter]

I think maybe you miss your parents more if you are close to your inlaws? I am 500 miles from mine, and 300 from pils, and its fine, we are a tight little family unit, and use friends as family iykwim. I struggled more missing my parents when we lived close to my inlaws, as it highlighted the distance between my parents.

[glastocat]

cronullansw, that is almost exactly what my mum said to me when we moved, which was a pretty amazing thing for her to say considering I am her only child and I was taking away her only grandson.

[glastocat]

I haven't lived within 300 miles of my folks in NI since I was 21 (uni was only 50 miles away). I lived in London for ten years, then moved to Cork which at least was on the same island as my folks although at the wrong end of it. And this year I moved to Oz! I've never had any regrets, I couldn't wait to leave NI and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to live in great places. I do miss my mum sometimes, but skype is wonderful. I do look at my cousins who have lived in the same town all their lives and wonder how they haven't died of boredom, but different strokes for different folks I guess. My husband doesn't miss his folks either, when we moved to Cork we were living near his family and we didn't really see that much of them and that was enough! My son misses my mum as they were very close, but he loves living in Oz and certainly wouldn't want to move back to Ireland.

[StupidFlanders]

Do you or your dh drive? I'd drive that far return in a day every other weekend but where I live I imagine more than 5 hours one way too far for weekly visits.

How often do you visit?

[AveryJessup]

No, I don't regret moving 5,000 miles away from my family. I am envious of people who have a lot of parental help on hand when they have young children but I would never have been in that position anyway as my family aren't like that.

My ILs would help a bit but very sparingly with strings attached and my own parents would say they would help but would not really be capable of much as they're in their 70s. Both sets of parents are very wary of any responsibility or stress so couldn't be relied on in an emergency.

In a way, it's actually easier living far away from any family as people don't ask questions about the lack of support whereas if I lived back home, people would be puzzled and wonder why my parents weren't helping out more or, worse, they would assume I get help when I don't.

[cronullansw]

Back in 2005, Mrs C and I were in Aus, looking around, giving the whole, 'could we move here' thing serious consideration.

On our return to UK, her parents said, ''it's your lives, you and your child, our grandchild, it's not about us, we've done what we needed to do. Live your lives, not ours.'

So we moved to NSW and Mrs C has been back to UK a couple of times, her folks have been here for extended stays, and it's good, the kids lifestyle here is incredible, so as we put the child first, to give him as many opportunities as we can, we choose to stay here.

[payhisdebt]

yes , at one stage in my life.
it was terrible.
I love my parents dearly. it is very important for me to be close to them

[HomicidalPsychoJungleCat]

We have it the other way round, both my (divorced) parents were a 5 hour drive away and have moved to be closer to us, and we see them both several times a week. I moved out of home at 19 and hadn't ever really spent a lot of regular time with them since, just once a month or so, so I was apprehensive that they would drive me crazy (they do a little, but nowhere near as much as I thought!!) I love having them close by, being able to pop in whenever I or they like, and its amazing having two people who love to spend time with our kids as much as we do.

Is there any way you could convince them to move closer to you?

[DukeSilver]

I moved away for uni when I was 17 so I can't really imagine life as an adult living near them (I'm about 350 miles away).

As a single parent I do sometimes think whistfully of the help I could get living closer but I guess you can't miss what you've never had so I can say I think about it often.

They are both still quite young but I do worry about when they are older and need help. I can't imagine my mum agreeing to move anywhere so I guess when that time comes I will have to move closer or do a hell of a lot of travelling.

[motherinferior]

Oh sweet baby Jesus no, no way.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Haven't lived within 200 miles of my parents for the last 30 years and never regretted it. Recently, however, they're not in the best of health, getting older and some kind of relocation seems increasingly likely. Hopefully them rather than me.

[mrshap]

400 miles from my mother now and my sanity has returned. However your circumstances are different, can you persuade them to move closer to you.

[Topseyt]

I just have to say that I can really relate to the OP on this.

I live about a three hour drive from my parents, and I am becoming more aware of the distance as they are getting older. I am very aware (painfully) that I don't see them as much as I should and it makes me quite sad.

When I met my hubby though, we were both aware that our families lived a fair distance apart. We live just over an hour away from his mum.

Sometimes I do regret moving as far away as I did (though people who moved from the UK to OZ or other countries might not think of it as very far), but if hubby had moved to be nearer to my family then the boot would simply be on the other foot. There is no compromise which works well for both of us.

[BenNJerry]

We are a 3 hour drive away from my parents because of partner's work. I hate it, I am very close to DM (I'm an only child and she was a single mother until I was 14) and I wish she could see DS more often, it's difficult as partner works Mon-Fri and I work on a Saturday so we only see them about once a month.

My partner is currently looking for other work so we can move closer to them. We come from different areas, he is from the south west and I am from the north but he is happy to move up north with me as he doesn't have parents and isn't particularly close to the rest of his family, not like I am with mine.