To move near family or stay put

@joanland you did the right thing for yourself, too. Hopefully your son and his wife - or at least your son - will reconcile at some point.

@gloaming a woman feels more stress during a move because she feels responsible for taking care of all the details that entails.

I’ll just tell you what I did. I was let go from my longterm job (nepotism) and had only 1 close friend left in town. I decided to move to a new sees because one of my sisters - the one I’m closest to - lives very close by. It took me about 2 years to reach the top of a waiting list for an over 55/60/62 apartment. (Each one had diff age requirement but I met all of them.)
Moving was stressful. Packing was the worst. I lived among boxes for months and now am unpacking everything. That all said, I’m so thankful I made the decision.
My sister was 90 miles away from me and I never got to see her in person unless I took an all-day bus trip. Now we see each other regularly. I’m starting a new chapter at almost 64. I don’t know the town and everything is new. I still am close to the beach (little farther now) and have friendly neighbors.
Do a pro and con list (being near family is the first pro) and go from there. Bring close to children (my nieces in this case) is a plus for me. They visit their parents every couple months (they live 3-5 hours away) so I get to see “my girls”.
Do what will make you happy. Look into places now and if you decide not to move, you’ve lost nothing but a little research time.

@hraka13 I'm thinking of doing the same. My only living relative is a sister who is married with kids/grandkids and lives 300 miles away. We used to visit each other more than we do now since our parents passed away. She has built a community for herself in a rural town and would like us to be close enought to meet for coffee, but I do not see myself living in this town, even though I would like to move out of the big city to a place easier to navigate. I do not want to be a burden or expect her to provide me with a social life. Probably would want to find a 55+ community but I really like living in a house. Been solo all my life. But I am now in my 70s without much of a support net where I live and worry that a hospital stay would be a stretch. I want to get all my stuff in order so I can just live this stage of life.