@kjoed53
I’m in the first year of having my two daughters live so far away from me—as I’ve said in my post one lives in Alaska, other in Amsterdam and traveling to see either one of them takes about the same amount of time since getting to see my Alaska daughter involves a four or five hour ferry trip, and a flight of eight hours.
What has helped me the most is volunteering—the library, reading tutoring for elementary schools and working at a food pantry distribution center.
I did childcare for my daughter’s three children 2-3 days/week for the last seven years, so their absence really has made a difference in my weekly life. I began doing childcare for them two months after I retired, and really didn’t develop my retirement life because of this. They appreciated me for sure and I appreciated the time with them, but when they moved, it left a big hole in my life.
I still haven’t come to a decision on staying put or moving to Portland, which is much busier than my town in southern Oregon. I hedge on going forward with this because of all the traffic that I hear about from my sister who on the other hand strongly encourages me to come up there to be nearer family—3 sisters, 2 brothers—all aged 62-74. I plan to go up in the next month for a few days to look around neighborhoods that she will show me to see if I’ll be able to visualize making the change.
I appreciate this thread in the ability to read decision-making and circumstances of others in my age – – it’s not an easy time, this transition.