Friday, April 12, 2013

Long Distance Family

I am a midwest transplant.  I grew up in the "upper South."  The Appalachian region of Kentucky.  I met a Nebraska native, fell in love, and we moved around a bit before finally settling an hour from his hometown in Nebraska.  We have been here for almost 5 years.

He has a large family and except for one uncle they all still live close by.  Holidays are a blast with a ton of little cousins playing together.  The boys have grandparents and great grandparents that they see regularly and that they adore.  Thing 1 is know to randomly say,"Grandma nice" pretty often.  They get excited when we pull in their driveways.  

I'm thankful that the boys have family that loves them close by.  

Then there is my family.  All back in Kentucky.  A very long 18 hour drive away.  We've been there twice since the boys were born.  At 6 months and at 15 months old we made the drive to visit.  The first time we were there, Thing 1 got a horrible ear infection and we had to scramble to find a pediatrician.  The second  trip the boys overwhelmed my parents with their incredible energy and activity level.  

Despite that less than stellar visit, I love my family and Need to see them at least once a year.  The boys are now 27 months old and we have not been back.  It's been over a year since I've laid eyes on my family.   Of course I talk to my mom (and even my dad occasionally) on the phone a few times a week.  And I don't want to move back there.  I just want my boys to know their "other" grandparents.

I just had a long, scary few days and my first real experience of the helplessness of being so far away.  My dad had some surgery and even though it went great, it was still fairly serious and very stressful.  And just drives home the fact that my boys are growing up  and don't have any idea that they have another set of grandparents.  The boys talk to my mom on the phone and love to say "hi grandma," but I don't kid myself into thinking that they know it's not the hub's mom.   

I'm really just saying that no one should take family for granted.  Those of you who have parents and grandparents close by who love your kids and are thrilled to watch them sometimes, consider yourselves incredibly fortunate.   

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