Topic: A bit sad .

[carolinej]

Well, son left today to start new life abroad.

Him and his partner off to Germany by plane to visit partners parents and pick up her car. Then, on thursday they drive down to Fuengirola, Costa del Sol.

I am so excited and pleased for them, but I am a bit sad to see them go :'(

Has anyone else got children who have moved right away? Or has anyone moved right away from their children?

cj :)

[Mr Smith]

If it was me I would be going YIPPEEeeeeeeeee, I was  an orphan back in 62 and shipped out to Ozzz obviously under different curcumstances, but let the kids get on with their life for gods sake ;)

[manicscousers]

I've one who came home from uni for 3 weeks, moved to brighton to work and stayed, one who never came home from uni, lives in leicester, both boys, sorry, men  ;D
my daughter was backwards and forwards to us, before she met her husband, now lives only 5 minutes away, close enough for babysitting  ;D
it is sad for us when our independent children move , the alternative is them clinging to the apron strings,
thank goodness for e mail and mobile phones  :)

[Vegemite]

 :-\ I did it, fifteen years ago. I went/ came backpacking to the UK to teach, then after six months met the love of my life and stayed  :(  My poor mum and dad, luckily now, with the internet and cheap phone options, we speak once a fortnight for half an hour, and email daily. To be fair, they probably talk more to me than they do my brother who lives down the road. I can download photos taken that day and email them over, so they keep up to date that way too.

I always felt guilty but never found it hard, until my little one came along. Now we are between a rock and a hard place, as moving to Aus means taking her away from the grandparents she has here.

At the end of the day, you have to do what feels right for you, not live with regrets.

I see my family for three or four weeks every couple of years, and when we do meet for that chunk of time we see so much of each other it does make up for it.

I'm taking my little one to aus for the first time this summer and it will be magic to see her with her Nanny-Roo and Poppy again, and for her to meet her little cousins too. 

It is hard but technology makes it so much easier for us than it was in the past. We are blessed really  :)

[Hyacinth]

Day my son first moved out I changed the locks and got a goldfish ;D

Think about it C.....if you're midlands/north & he'd got a job darn sarf, you'd spend pretty well the same amount of time on motorways as you'll now do in a plane......AND you wouldn't be able to drink en route, either :o AND, with the price of petrol and road tax, etc, you'd be out of pocket too.AND the weather's gonna be great, the food ditto, the wine sublime....

End of day, clouds and silver linings spring to mind. :D

PS Well done on a job well-done. Lad grown up and confident? Gotta be a good thing. Congrats all round. 8)

[shirlton]

Got rid of all our kids and got a mom to take their place pmsl

[N8R]

hi carolinej..      i moved away from my parents about three years ago .admitidly only a couple of hundred miles but still its "away" . and to be truthful i now have the best relationship ive ever had with them ,we talk  more and when we do meet its always a happy occasion . the only thing is my they dont get to see my beautiful daughter as often as i would like (which i know they find hard) but they know that my life is the best its ever been and im  contented and happy ,  so that makes them happy !  .....n8r           

[caroline7758]

My two oldest are away at uni so we still see them in the hols. It's interesting that my OH and I think differently about this- he's always bemoaning the fact that we see them so little and how quiet it is without them, but never picks up the phone or sends an email without me suggesting it, while I just feel really pleased for them doing their own thing and having a great time, and I ring or email at least once a week. Not sure how I'll feel when the last one has gone, but we've got another 3 years before that happens.

[honeybee]

Eldest went away to Uni for three years but returned after he got his degree, youngest passed his driving test three months ago and I *think* that he still lives here  :-\  ???

I guess it all has its ups and downs, our babies grow up and fly the nest and we will all miss them, but then our supermarket food bills become so much cheaper ..... Ohhhh I dream about that  ;D

[carolinej]

Thanks for all your replies :)

He was living about 30 mins away , at our local uni, so it wont be as much of a wrench as if he was still at home, and as was said, modern technology is wonderful.

It was nice having him popping in from time to time though. Now it will be yearly.

I have always encouraged my children to spread their wings. My daughter was supposed to be going to America, but then fell in love and is living 45 mins away ::)

I have one at home who is in no hurry to leave and another who is desperate to get his own place when he leaves college next month. Funny how they are all different.

Now if I could get them all to move to 4 different countries, I'd just have to visit them all.........................

cj :)

[banshee]

Moving to different countries........that sounds like a good plan there carolinej  ;D

None of our three have moved out yet. The eldest did is degree through a college attached to uni for the sake of the expenses and he will do his next degree very much the same way - his choice. The youngest has only been in college for 12 months so I think is a little young to be expected to move out yet. The middle one is special needs and it is unlikely that he will ever live completely independently although that is his ultimate goal.

[Hyacinth]

Back to this...

Don't you just HATE goodbyes? I do, and it never gets any better :'( The hello's are great tho :)

My parents got it well-sussed....1 child on the Continong (useful for R&R visits and a handy pit-stop when things went wrong with their car & they were touring).....1 child in the USA - handy when the Sales were on and flight attendant grand's 10% 'Buddy Pass' gave them affordable trips...1 child in SA....nice place to visit for 3 months in our winter....

 ;D ;D ;D

[Trevor_D]

It happens all the time. We live on the outskirts of London, but our son & his family live in Sussex. And my sister-in-law has lived in Queensland for most of her life. My late brother-lin-law moved to Herefordshire with his family when he retired.

But what a marvellous opportunity for cheap holidays! (It works both ways, of course: my son often has to travel to Bristol for his job, so quite often stays the night either with us or with his brother-in-law in Reading!)

And when we were younger (& broke!), my in-laws retired to the beautiful Wiltshire village of Lacock, so every holiday we'd pack up and visit for weeks at a time, and at Christmas they'd come here and look after the house when we were on our knees from end-of-term 'jollities'. Oh what times....

[carolinej]

Well, I confess, I got on the internet last night to check flight prices ::) £88 return to Malaga from CArdiff, so not too bad. Maybe I will pop over to see him sooner rather than later ;D

Had an email this morning saying Terminal 5 still is a pain. Although they checked in 2 bags  each online, when they got there, they were told they could only take 1. After arguing that it was all their worldly goods, they were allowed to take them.

At germany, a lightening storm kept them on the plane for 45 mins as they werent allowed on the tarmac in lightening. After waiting another 2 hours for their bags, they were told to pick them up today, as there was still no sign of them!!

That's one of the reasons why I prefer to drive to france for holls. I feel much more in control (and I can bring back loads of goodies without worrying about the weight allowances ;D

cj :)

[Hyacinth]

cj, when they're settled, sign up for Skype 8)

[carolinej]

skype? is that the telephone thingy? If so, how does it work?

cj :)

[artichoke]

Our offspring and their partners live in Germany, Bangkok and Tasmania, and Skype is in constant use, being free. Haven't a clue how it works -  son sets it up for all of us. You can see each other too, with the right sort of webcam, and be taken on tours round their houses.

[Hyacinth]

...well it's computers innit? How am I supposed to know how it works :-[ ;)

CJ google Skype and read all about it, then when your son's got his PC set up and has also set up with Skype, you're away. Oh, and apart from the cost of nerdish headphone thingies, it's FREE!!

[carolinej]

Thanks, I'll look into that ;D

cj :)

[Kea]

When I lost my My mum (In NZ) last year I hadn't seen her since 2001 but until my Brother moved in with her she was able to keep contact with me and my brother in Australia by email. Unfortunately we lost that contact when my oldest brother moved in after his relationship broke up as his computer broke down and he took over her's and told her she couldn't use it in case she messed up his work.

Now we find the reason why.......he also took her house.

The difficulty was that we didn't have enough contact with her so we didn't know what was going on now we wonder if she spent her last years being bullied by our brother. Something we couldn't tell on the phone as he was home everytime I phoned.

He just took advantage of the rest of us being in other parts of the world.