How well do you get along with your, or your spouses, family? Do you live close to them or miles/States apart? Wife and I live States away from her two sisters and a couple of nieces and their families. We live on the East Coast and they live on the West Coast. My wife's brother does live here in Florida, but almost 5 hours south of us. A year and a half after we got married, we moved away from So Calif., where her mom, two sisters and nieces live. I found out, after meeting my wife, that she was making plans on moving to Nevada, but hadn't told her family about that. As for me, I had lived in So Calf. since getting out of the Navy there in the mid 70's and for many years had wanted to leave. Had visited some States, but never moved. Also, shortly after meeting her, I asked her about moving to Denver, CO. She jumped on it and said "fine"! Funny, but my wife and her family moved to So Calif to get away from the winter weather in Michigan and when we moved, she went right back into 4 seasons! I grew up in northeastern Indiana, so I knew what 4 seasons was like and had been missing it. When I first met my wife, I really thought she got along with her family quite well, but that turned out not to be the case that much. As for me, I know I didn't get along with my family that well and had no intention of moving back to Indiana! We haven't been back to So Calif since leaving in mid 2001. When we lived in Colorado, we did fly to Las Vegas a few times to meet her family who drove in from So Calif. We do miss her family during the holidays, but just financially can't afford to go back there and for the same reason, they can't come here.
When I was about to get married, my dad said the best thing we could do was move as far away as possible from all relatives. I so wish we had done that.
I wish I had raised my son nearer to family. As it was, he was disconnected from my family so that now, as an adult, he would never think of visiting them. He has met my family but they are not someone who he'd travel across the country to see, or vice versa. Other than me, they have nothing in common with one another. I am the only one in my immediate family who moved far away from home. My oldest brother lives only about nine miles away, in the next town south. My next to the oldest brother lives on land that my dad owned adjacent to the house, Then, my third oldest brother lived in Kentucky for a few years, but then moved just a few towns away, about twenty miles, and my youngest brother is in the same town that my oldest brother is in. From the UP of Michigan, I have lived in Southern California, Southeastern Texas, North Carolina, and Maine.
My family slow moved away and only having one brother who had three daughters. I did not get to see them much we were always on friendly terms but never got together only being 100 miles apart. Then I went sailing off to the Caribbean ending up living in the Dominican Republic my brother is in to bad of health to make the trip but my three nieces have made the trip down here many times and we are closer now as a family even living thousands of miles apart.
When I married, we got a cheap condo. And while there, my husband was sent to London for a 4-month stint. My father-in-law fetched me from the condo and provided me a room. When my husband came back, we lived with his parents. When his parents left for the US, we had a problem with my husband's siblings that caused us to move into an apartment. Even hard of cash, we had a nice time living in that apartment, all by ourselves with nary an interference from his siblings. Now I understand the American concept that a child should leave the house when he turns 18... and make a life of his own by fending for himself.