Living near or away from family

[StephMK]

Do you live near family? If so, both sides or one?

If you moved to be near family, how did you decide which side to live close to?

If you live away from family like parents and siblings, how often do you visit?

There are too many options to attempt a poll but curious about others and where you live in relation to your parents, siblings, or kids -if grown and out of the house.

 

[Kitty 34]

My parents (85 and 87) live to the left of me; one of my sisters lives to the right of me; one of my brothers lives next door to her and my other brother lives right behind my brother. We do have one sister who lives about 60 miles away. So a lot of visiting goes on all the time no matter what the season!!!

Our sons, however, live 2 - 4 hours away from our "family" street.

 

[scrhsa]

The closest is my bil at 21/2 hrs. Mil/sil is about 5 hrs. My sister is 8 hrs away and my Mom is a 2 day drive away and that is with a 12 hr driving day one day.

 

[JLiz]

My brother and his family live five minutes away (less if we catch the green light) and my parents live ten minutes away. My MIL lives an hour away and my SIL and her family live two hours away. I like that everyone is within easy driving distance so we can visit whenever. We used to live in a major city (small city now) and while we were geographically close, my parents and MIL were over an hour away each, in opposite directions, because of insane traffic. I much prefer it the way we live now.

 

[maslex]

My side includes my brother who lives about 10 mins from me. My sister lives 4 hours away. Our parents are now gone. I do have 2 cousins who are about 2 miles down the road.

His side includes his sister who is about 10 mins away and his mom/stepfather built an inlaw apt on our house about 9 years ago. So there right here. His dad/stepmom used to live about 15-20 mins away but two years ago they moved to Fl. (We're in CT)

 

[firecracker725]

Do you live near family? If so, both sides or one?

If you moved to be near family, how did you decide which side to live close to?

If you live away from family like parents and siblings, how often do you visit?

There are too many options to attempt a poll but curious about others and where you live in relation to your parents, siblings, or kids -if grown and out of the house.

We've lived no closer than two states away from any family since we graduated college. At one point, we even lived an ocean away. We have three little girls and visit grandparents at Christmas and in the summer, usually for two weeks or so at the time.

 

[ronandannette]

I set off to seek my fortune 500 miles away from my immediate family when I was 20 and never looked back. Over the years my siblings both moved back to our hometown when they retired. We visited almost monthly when my DMom was still alive but have only been back twice in the last year since she's been gone.

DH's parents are both gone now as well, but his mother and all his siblings lived local. We weren't super-involved in each other's day to day lives but we did usually get together for birthdays and holidays. His father lived a day's drive from here; we visited there exactly twice in 20 years and they spent the night at our house exactly once. Obviously not a close relationship and we've lost touch entirely with DH's father's wife in the years since he died.

DH's two grown daughters live hither and yon - we try to see them and the grandkids as often as possible (but it's never enough ). One of them lives a 3 hour drive away but has a very, very busy life. We get together 2 or 3 times a year, either here or there. The other DD moved all the way across the country 10 years ago. DH flies out every year; I've only been there once. They take turns coming our way; as a family of 5 it's cost-prohibitive for them to all travel at once.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I am within an hour of all my and DH's siblings and both sets of parents.

 

[dminnie]

Our parents are both gone, but when they were alive, we lived far away. It varied...when we were first married 2 day drive, then a 1 day drive or 3 hours depending on which parents. We never saw them much. A few times a year each. They never really knew our kids very well as a result. I so hope that if we ever have grandkids that we are able to live close to them or have the means to travel to see them often. Plus, I would love to be able to help my kids out with the occasional babysitting or mom taxi tasks. We were always on our own for everything since we didn't have family close by.

 

[lovin'fl]

Both DH and I were born and raised in MD. All the fam is there. We live in NC since last May (but lived here for 6.5 years and lived in PA for 2.5 when kids were little, then went back to MD for 10 years before coming back here to NC). We have kids in college in PA so we go see family often. The drive stinks with 85 in NC being under construction and then 95 in NoVa/DC. It's about 5.5 to 6 hour drive... could be just under 5 but construction and traffic.

So since May we have been up and visited family about 6 times (got two more visits coming by May....so 8 in a year but if kids weren't in college up that way it would likely be about 2-3) . Most of DH's fam have been down here to visit once and the sister that hasn't is coming in March (so likely one visit a year.) My fam has not visited and every time I ask I get a 'no thank you'. So....

DS-21 lives near us. We see him about three times a month. DDs-19 are in college in PA. My MD fam is my mom and brother (no kids). DH's fam is his parents, eldest sister (her DH and 3 grown kids...we lived a 2 miles from them in MD), next sister (her DH and DD-13). I feel like it wont be long before we see all them very rarely and start the next stage where we host our kids and their significant others and then spouses and kids for holidays and events.

 

[dish rag]

We have siblings and parents in several locations spread out all over from Canada to Florida to Mexico. We see them all monthly as we get around a lot. My cousin in Mexico comes see us several times a year.

 

[North of Mouse]

Do you live near family? If so, both sides or one?

If you moved to be near family, how did you decide which side to live close to?

If you live away from family like parents and siblings, how often do you visit?

There are too many options to attempt a poll but curious about others and where you live in relation to your parents, siblings, or kids -if grown and out of the house.

Parents gone, lived 35 miles away for two years, after that, dh's transfers with company determined where we lived - different states.

6 siblings scattered also - see each other whenever we can.

 

[AnnaS]

Parents and in-laws have all recently passed - but we lived within a few minutes of each other (one walking). Two siblings and family - one two hours and one 4 hours. Other siblings within driving distance.
My two sons married live 15-20 minutes from me. My dd will be getting married next year - I think she will be two hours away.
I don't think I could ever move and be away from my kids and grandchildren - as long as I have a choice.......

I feel lucky and blesses to have my immediate family always close.

 

[Hook326]

We live within 15-25 minutes of everyone in both DH & my families. The in-laws pick up our boys twice a week from school and watch them a couple days a week during the summer. We also go to their house every other week for Sunday dinner.

I talk to my mom and one sister (& family) at least 2-3 times a week and see them anywhere from once a month to four depending on what’s going on. My mom watches my boys one day a week during the summer. We see DH’s brother and wife about 2x a month and talk on the phone occasionally. Everyone makes birthdays and holidays (minus one of my sisters & fam who has estranged herself from me & my other sister & getting there with my mom).

I’m very grateful to live close by everyone especially for my kids & my mom after my dad passed. DH’s grandparents are still alive too & we see them about 1x a month.

 

[tvguy]

Somehow we managed to buy a house 6 miles from my moms house and 6 miles from my MIL's house. Didn't find that out until my MIL complained that we lived closer to my Mom than her, and we checked. LOL> DS and DDIL bought a house 5 miles from us.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We live in Georgia - have always lived far away from most of the family who are in MN. As far as visiting, as long as everyone is healthy we got once every couple of years.

When someone gets sick like when my MIL did, we went a few times that year until she passed so she could see her Grandkids and we could visit with her.

 

[kimblebee]

One brother lives in Toronto but all the rest of us are in the same city and don’t go more than 2-3 weeks without seeing each other.

I only have one Aunt and Uncle and they live in Australia with all my first cousins.

My husband only has one brother for family and he lives in the city too. He and I don’t see eye to eye on many thing s so we don’t spend a lot of time together. He does talk to him almost daily though.

 

[bushdianee]

When I was 19 I moved with my parents and siblings about 1100 miles from both sides of the family. That was almost 41 years ago. Now my parents and 1 brother are gone but the rest of us live in the same city we moved to. One brother and I live on the same street about a block away from each other. One brother lives about a mile away from us and 2 sisters and my widowed sister in law live within a couple of miles of us, a sister lives about 4 miles away and the other brother lives in a suburb several miles away. Most of us try to visit our hometown at least every year or 2. With the exception of 1 brother the rest of us see each other on a regular basis.

 

[sonnyjane]

3,000 miles from my family. I see them on average about once every 2 years.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Immediate family all in NYS (oldest sister moved to Westchester which allowed me to learn what the heck Metro North was for) with the exception of youngest sister.