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Post by wallyagain on Oct 11, 2019 23:01:06 GMT
I am watching a show where they are talking about moving SO far from family. The distance is 4 hours which for us seems like not far at all. We lived 5 hours and went home on weekends all the time. Now we are 9 hours, and one son is 30 hours away. That is far to us.
So how far is “far” from family to you?
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Post by mom on Oct 11, 2019 23:04:55 GMT
My oldest son is 1.5 hours away. Im good with that. Younger son is 7 hours and that's too far. My extended family (minus my dad) is 14 hours away (too far) and DH's extended family and my dad is 10 minuets away, which is too close.
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Post by AussieMeg on Oct 11, 2019 23:09:26 GMT
In my experience, Americans (and I guess Canadians too?) think nothing of moving all the way across the country. It starts when kids head off to college and just goes from there.
In Australia, most kids attend university in their home town and live at home while going to uni. People don't move interstate or across the country as much as in the US. I only have one relative who has moved interstate. Everyone else still lives here in Melbourne / Victoria.
All of my family and DSO's family are within a 2 to 7 minute drive from my house, except my mum who last year moved back to the country town where she was born. It is a 1 hour 15 minute drive from my house, and I consider that to be very far away.
I guess it's all relative, hey?
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Post by needmysanity on Oct 11, 2019 23:09:38 GMT
The closest family member I have is 6 hours away. That's too far for me - I only get them see them 1/2 times a year and I hate it.
My MIL used to live 2 hours from us and that was perfect. Not too close that she was up every weekend but close enough to get to her in case of an emergency. Now she lives 5 minutes away...that's too close!
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Post by disneypal on Oct 11, 2019 23:10:24 GMT
My mom is 5 hours away, my SIL is 8 hours away. While it certainly isn't close, at least they are within a day's drive so it isn't what I consider real far - I can get to them both within hours easily by hoping in the car.
To me, FAR is when it is better to fly than drive or it is more than a day's drive. For instance, my brother's family use to live on the other side of the USA from me. My niece currently lives in New Zealand and I am in the US - those distances are far to me.
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Gennifer
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,009
Jun 26, 2014 8:22:26 GMT
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Post by Gennifer on Oct 11, 2019 23:11:51 GMT
Honestly? Anything more than an hour. I have a sister about 90 minutes away, and I only see her every other month or so. My sister that’s 7 hours away, and I only see her 2-3 times a year. (My sister-in-law is only 4 hours away, and I only see her maybe once a year.)
The rest of my siblings are all within 30 minutes, and I see them all the time.
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Post by katlady on Oct 11, 2019 23:13:34 GMT
Closest relatives are about 100 miles away. Majority of the relatives are 2,500 miles away (Hawaii).
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Post by Basket1lady on Oct 11, 2019 23:14:19 GMT
We are across an ocean and it’s too far! But we are having a wonderful adventure and the people at home are taken care of/taking care of themselves. But I can’t wait until all of my chicks are here over Christmas!
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How far?
Oct 11, 2019 23:16:06 GMT
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Post by myshelly on Oct 11, 2019 23:16:06 GMT
All of my family and DH’s family is within 20 minutes. That includes extended family like aunts, uncles, cousins.
We would never move far away.
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Post by MichyM on Oct 11, 2019 23:19:48 GMT
I have one living relative, my son. He lives on the opposite coast. I'd love to have him a day's drive away or closer!
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,975
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Oct 11, 2019 23:19:54 GMT
DD lives a 14 hour drive away and DS lives a 5 - 10 minute drive from us. My parents are 1.5 hours. Siblings are 4 and 8 hours, respectively.
I really wish DD was closer, but her life is there.
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scrapngranny
Pearl Clutcher
Only slightly senile
Posts: 4,765
Jun 25, 2014 23:21:30 GMT
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How far?
Oct 11, 2019 23:20:09 GMT
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Post by scrapngranny on Oct 11, 2019 23:20:09 GMT
Oldest DD lives 41 miles away, #2 is about 3, and DS is 31, but works on our town.
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valincal
Drama Llama
Southern Alberta
Posts: 5,649
Jun 27, 2014 2:21:22 GMT
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How far?
Oct 11, 2019 23:25:48 GMT
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Post by valincal on Oct 11, 2019 23:25:48 GMT
DS1 just moved to a city three hours north of us but he’s been working up there for a couple of years so I miss him but I’m used to him being gone. The rest of my and DH’s immediate families live in the same city as us. I was an army brat so I’m quite used to not being near family but it’s nice to have our siblings, their kids and our parents near.
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Post by ~summer~ on Oct 11, 2019 23:27:59 GMT
I feel like far is where it is too far to drive in a day. So more than like an 8 hour drive away.
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pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,936
Aug 14, 2015 21:47:17 GMT
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Post by pilcas on Oct 11, 2019 23:28:25 GMT
To me a 2 hour drive is far if it’s someone you want to see often. My daughter goes to college 2 hrs away and my son is 4 hrs away. The round trip to both places is fairly long so I only see them on long weekends. Now if it’s someone you are happy to see once or twice a year, then 2 or 4 hrs is not far.
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Post by pierkiss on Oct 11, 2019 23:35:52 GMT
My parents are between 10-12 hrs away by car (depending o traffic and season). Anything beyond that would be considered far to me. I know that I can get to them in a day if I need to.
When we lived in FL we were 22 hrs away from both sets of parents. That was far. 😂.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Oct 11, 2019 23:41:03 GMT
We've NEVER lived near family. Currently, MIL is 12 hrs away by car. I'm almost exactly in the middle of the country and my mom lives on the east coast by the ocean and my dad lives on the west coast by the ocean. Lucky for us, DS lives here.
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,943
Location: PNW
Jul 20, 2014 21:57:23 GMT
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Post by breetheflea on Oct 11, 2019 23:45:27 GMT
In-laws are six hours away. by the time we get there, most of a day is gone so it's a little too far. My mom is 15 miles away (on the other side of bad traffic) and it's too close
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Oct 11, 2019 23:52:33 GMT
Anything closer to me than 3 hours is too close. There really isn't a too far, especially with DH's family. When my parents retired, they were 3 hours from us. It's the closest we have lived to any relatives since we got married 42 years ago. Much of the time were were anywhere from a 10 hr to a 36 hour plan trip from them. DD is currently 10 min. from here, but she hasn't settled down yet so no telling where she will end up. I don't have a problem with her moving far off, I just ask that it's somewhere really fun to visit!
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Post by Linda on Oct 12, 2019 0:00:26 GMT
DD19 is at college 3hrs away -which is a good distance...except for that 6hr roundtrip for pickup/dropoff
DS25 is 10hrs away - which is close enough that he'll be home for Christmas this year for the first time since 2014 - but as he put it, far enough away that we're not calling him to come fix this or that on the weekends. He was on the other side of the world (Okinawa) for 3+ years until this summer so he feels close being in the same time zone again.
My mum is 18hrs away - which is too far right now as she's struggling with memory issues and I can't be there to help
One sister is 16.5 hrs (so 1.5 from mum) - we've only seen her three times in the past 10 years.
The other sister is across an ocean (UK) and I haven't seen her since we went over to see Dad's burial site in 1990.
Dh has only 2 siblings left - one lives about 3 hours away, the other about 30 min....we have no contact so distance really isn't an issue
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Post by bc2ca on Oct 12, 2019 0:08:49 GMT
We live far from family now. It's only a 3 hour plane ride, so not too bad, but a 22+ hour drive.
We used to live a 3 our drive away and that was pretty perfect.
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Post by ntsf on Oct 12, 2019 0:13:29 GMT
for the last 40 yrs, we have lived 900 miles from families. my mom lived all her adult life 2000 miles from her parents... she wrote a letter almost every day.
I live on the west coast.. and one dd lives in new zealand. I don't see her too often. we do have facetime now.
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Post by snugglebutter on Oct 12, 2019 0:15:51 GMT
In my experience, Americans (and I guess Canadians too?) think nothing of moving all the way across the country. It starts when kids head off to college and just goes from there. In Australia, most kids attend university in their home town and live at home while going to uni. People don't move interstate or across the country as much as in the US. I only have one relative who has moved interstate. Everyone else still lives here in Melbourne / Victoria. All of my family and DSO's family are within a 2 to 7 minute drive from my house, except my mum who last year moved back to the country town where she was born. It is a 1 hour 15 minute drive from my house, and I consider that to be very far away. I guess it's all relative, hey? There was a study that came out a few years ago that said most Americans don't live more than 18 miles from their mother. I personally live a few hundred miles from mine and don't intend to move back to that area. Dh and I did originally want to move "north" when we got married but he has done well in his career here so it makes sense to stay for now.
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Post by dewryce on Oct 12, 2019 0:19:15 GMT
His family is within 4.5 hours from us. The only reason that is at all an issue is my back as otherwise the drive is no big deal. And when we want a weekend visit is easy to accomplish. My family is within 2 hours. The distance isn’t an issue, but the traffic is. So we have to time our visits.
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How far?
Oct 12, 2019 0:19:21 GMT
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Post by mustlovecats on Oct 12, 2019 0:19:21 GMT
We have lived walking distance from family and we have lived on opposite ends of the country from family. To me it isn’t really a matter of too far, if you’re doing what you need to be doing for your own life. In this phase of our lives it is a lot easier to live close by so we can help.
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Post by refugeepea on Oct 12, 2019 0:21:31 GMT
Depends on the family member. Right now, most of my family is within 15 minutes to 90 minutes. I get along with them, but they are all busy doing their own thing. I also have nieces and nephews with kids. It makes it easier to get together for holidays. My husband's family live farther away. They range in distance from 2 hours to 5.5 hours away. Planning get togethers is a nightmare because of distance and weird family dynamics.
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Post by nlwilkins on Oct 12, 2019 0:36:41 GMT
I moved half the world away when I graduated from high school. Mom was on Guam and I came to the States for college and never went back. That was fifty years ago when traveling that far meant a major investment.
Currently, in-laws all live within 30 minutes of us yet we rarely see anyone except one sister. My family is all over, closest is four hours away, one brother is back on Guam and the other is up north. All have families and lives where they are at. Daughters are close enough to visit often, one is one and a half our away, the other is three hours away.
I would love to have the daughters closer so we could keep up with each other and be a part of each other's lives. But they have their jobs and own lives to lead. I am used to my siblings being so far away although it would be nice to see them more often.
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,867
Jun 29, 2014 1:56:04 GMT
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How far?
Oct 12, 2019 0:58:31 GMT
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Post by teddyw on Oct 12, 2019 0:58:31 GMT
I live 3 hours from both families. My siblings and father all live in the same area 10-30 minutes from each other. Unless I go there I don’t see them. I grew up 2 blocks away from my dad’s parents and 1 block from his older brother’s family. I saw them whenever I wanted because I just walked over. My mom’s parents were 3 miles away. We saw them on Saturday evenings after church.
Dh’s parents and 1 brother are 3 hours the other part of the state. We see them 4 times/year roughly. Both of us did not want to live in our small hometowns. I’m sorry my kids had no grandparents in town growing up.
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Peal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,524
Jun 25, 2014 22:45:40 GMT
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Post by Peal on Oct 12, 2019 1:49:28 GMT
We live less than an hour from my family and DH's parents. His siblings live in lots of places. We used to live far away because DH was military, but we've retired closer to family. It's a really good distance, far enough away that they need to call before just showing up, but close enough no one needs to stay the night.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 1, 2024 22:56:14 GMT
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How far?
Oct 12, 2019 1:59:02 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2019 1:59:02 GMT
They live on the east coast and I live on the west coast. It’s perfect
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