So, I have the option to move to the Seattle area from South Dakota.
Pros - Darn near everything
Cons - Leaving all family and friends (will have a few friends around Seattle though), and selling a house we have only been in for 1 year.
It is very nice having both sets of grandparents living in the same town - Free babysitting, easy for holidays, good for raising the kids, etc. Between my wife and I, we have 3 sisters - all married with kids the same age as ours and all within a 4-6 hour drive from here. The problem is I hate everything about living here as far as weather and location go. No mountains. No ocean. Horrible lows. Ridiculous highs and humidity. And the wind…oh man the wind. And if i want to go hiking, i can’t just go - I need a full days drive to get anywhere worth climbing.
Anybody leave family just to be in a better location? Are you glad you did? Folks tell me the grass isn’t always greener, but I think I want to find out for myself and my family. Just curious what your experiences have been.
I miss the Sunday dinners and little things like birthday parties with the family. But I have to agree that if there are that many pros…you can always go and visit.
Yes. Left Dallas for Denver 3.5 years ago with no regrets. Of course, at the time, we didn’t have the twins, but we had lots of family and friends in Texas that we still miss today. However, I absolutely LOVE it here. We would never go back to Texas just to be near family. It would be nice to have the free babysitters, though.
Left Kona for SF. It’s been a tough transition as I am a single parent and have no family here. But we love it here and nearly 2 years later all the issues are working themselves out (except the swimming, I miss Kona Aquatics). For a while though, I didn’t even have an alternate emergency number to put down on my daughter’s school forms.
Like clm said, there are planes that take you home for a visit.
I moved away from my family when I moved to MN. We were always very close. We don’t have kids, but if we did…well, it woudl be nice to have the babysitting and grandkids seeing grandma and grandpa, true… But I just couldn’t see living in Iowa for my whole life. I m iss my family, and it sucks only seeing them a couple of times a year, but I can visit whenever I want, of course, and the environment/lifestyle/job market/everything is just better up here.
Michigan to Florida by way of a couple years in (ugh) Tennessee.
No regrets, and we’d definitely do it all over again. I love my family, and we talk on the phone a lot, and fly out to see each other a couple times a year.
I’ll post as a kid who grew up away from grandparents/aunts/uncles/etc. My parents, sister, and I spent 13 years overseas so we were no where near our extended family and even with airplanes it wasn’t realistic to get to them for a quick visit. I have to say that it actually seems to have brought my immediate family closer together (as compared to my aunt and her family who stayed in the same town as her parents). We are extremely close knit but yet at the same time I still adore and relatively close to my extended family.
If you’re unhappy leave - that has a much larger impact on your immediate family then anything else. Besides, Seattle rocks. My husband and I are here and plan on raising kids despite the fact our parents and siblings aren’t nearby.
Seattle will always be there and there will always be a chance to move.
While the kids are young and while the grandparents are still alive stick around and take advantage of the close proximity to family.
When the kids get a bit older I’d say look at the move again but right now stay put…and the free babysitting is a great plus. If you move to Seattle who’s to say you can enjoy all of the outside stuff if you don’t have sitters for the kids?
I moved to Seattle from MT where my family lives. If you are into the outdoors, it’s hard to do better than Seattle for a city. At first I thought we’d move back to MT but not any more. We go back to visit 1-2x a year. I included a couple of pics from a climb and hike both just under an hour from Seattle. Both from the last few weeks.
I’m the opposite of everyone else that’s posted. I moved from Boston to Denver and I’m heading back to Boston in January. My situation’s a little different as I’m a.) sick of doing the long-distance relationship (2,000 miles); b.) endured a major illness scare for my parents (I’m 26, my parents are 53, so it was unexpected); and c.) about to go back to grad school so I have the opportunity to choose where I live without concerns about job responsibilities or children / schools.
All that said, I haven’t regretted the move for a second and I’m definitely going to miss it out here. Anyways, this has been a long winded monologue to say that I chose family over location.
Allow me to point out the one big item that should sway your decision…ask yourself…are there Pheasents in WA? The answer is hell no. Your in the Pheasent capitol of the world. People come from all over the planet to hunt Pheasents in Sd and you want to move? Its a beautiful state (depending on where you live) with alot of outdoor activities available. Your crazy to leave for WA.
Sounds like you live in Sioux Falls. Move to Spearfish instead of Seattle. Mountains are right there. Good fishing too. You can get a job in the Passion Play and work the beer concession at Sturgis for extra cash.
I would leave in a second if I were you. Just get a place big enough for lots of guests because as soon as you move, all your SD friends will be visiting you.
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