We’ve spent the last 8.5 years living hundreds of miles away from family. We’ve learned to raise a family without the help of family nearby. We’ve struggled on random Tuesdays to get ourselves to appointments, kids to activities and appointments and get our work finished.
But we chose to move away.
And we would still make the same decision to move away. Shoot, we brainstorm several times a year on our next move. We enjoy living our lives for us, challenging ourselves to make friends, find jobs, and make a life in an unknown place. When we moved, we made sure to buy a house that could accommodate our families and friends, which was very important to us. We wanted to welcome people into our home and provide a free place to stay when they made the journey.
We have grown as people as we have navigated each new city on our own. We have grown as a couple as we found that we only had each other during these moves. We have grown as a family to make sure our kids see the world and see all that they are capable of and what the world has to offer if they are brave enough to take the leap.
Moving away and being forced to grow in ways that we could never had prepared for has had so many positive effects on us.
But, every year the holidays roll around and we’re expected to be present at every family gathering while running our home and jobs in a different state hundreds of miles away. We spend the latter half of November and most of December packing and unpacking suitcases, shuffling from one house to another in one state to another. We eat meals on our laps in the car and pack plenty of activities to keep the kids busy for hours upon hours.
We love getting together for the holidays. We love seeing family and spending time with them. But y’all, it’s exhausting. The drama of getting dates coordinated, cooking a giant meal that no one actually needs, and making sure we have the best time ever is straight up exhausting. It drains literally every bit of fun out of the holidays.
If you have family that has moved away, please respect the amount of time they spend traveling. The holiday traffic they endure. The worry they have about everything back home. Please, have understanding for the time they have their kids buckled in car seats, the potty stops and the tears and cries from the backseat of wanting to be out of the car.
