I’m having a hard time. As everyone is, I’m juggling a lot, and there is this thing in the back of my mind that is distracting me from other things that are definitely more fun and interesting.
That thing is this: I told my husband I’d be fine with moving to Australia, to be closer to his family. I told him this before we were married, about a dozen years ago. We met in Australia, his family is split between Australia and New Zealand, and my family is in California. When we were young, childless and full of our own awesomeness, I said of course, let’s move to America for a while and then of course, lets move back to the Southern Hemsiphere to be near your family. Why not? We have no ties.
Now we have 2 kids and they are adored by their grandparents here in California. Their only grandkids. It will just kill them, not literally, but really hurt, if we move away. And I want them to visit their grandparents more than once a year. Husband’s parents have 6 other grandkids, not that it’s relevant really, but sheesh. I know, Husband needs to see his family, fair enough. I’ll be the first to say he doesn’t spend near enough time with them and he misses them, and he wants his parents to know our kids. Fair, right? I know it’s fair, and right. but still. I really don’t want to.
Ugh.
Crazy Loves Company 
Hi! I know how hard it is to leave family to move around the world. Have you shared how you’re feeling with him? Not to change his mind necessarily, but to be able to talk it through.
Email me if you wanna chat! I have some coping strategies that have worked pretty well for us. I’ll also say this–living here has been great for us and great for our kids. But yeah, not having grandparents around is tough. Hang in there.
Australia is fine. Trust me; I live here. The climate is temperate nearly everywhere. You just have to watch the wildlife. We own the deadliest octopus, the 2 most deadly spiders, ditto for snakes, crocs & a couple of really big birds with nasty habits. Other that that…well we are divided by a common language but if you’re married to an Aussie you’ll be used to that. Mum & dad can come visit. Promise. We stopped the white Australia policy in the 60s. ☺
Australia sounds like a dream to me. But I get what you are saying, I live in Texas and we have ties here. I’m not the biggest fan of living here (hating heat does not play in it’s favor AT ALL) but still, I’ve had chances with my career to move just within the states and still had a hard time. If you decide to do it, embrace the adventure and know you are giving your kids a world view most aren’t fortunate enough to receive. But make sure the grandparents get to visit often. 🙂 Good luck!
Wow, this is huge! I’m glad to see that my sister has stopped by. I was gonna reference her as someone who has made this work. It is hard though. You would gain a lot from the move, but it’s a definite trade-off.