On Friday, Grandson stayed the night and on Saturday we went up to visit Son and family. (Oldest Granddaughter has ballet on Saturday mornings so she didn't come.) Grandson got us up at 6.30 and we played "Heads, Bodies and Legs", which he thinks most amusing. We also had a go at playing Consequences with words - he can write well now - which was also fun.
Son lives in the country. This is the track near his house. Here he is with Grandson and Middle Granddaughter, walking up to the burn.
And here are Grandson and Middle Granddaughter paddling in the burn.
I like the country and in a different life would live in a small town by the sea, with lots of varied walks from the house. However, generally speaking this doesn't really exist - small towns and villages don't have a large variety of easily accessible walks. Son and family have to go in the car to get more or less anywhere. However, Grandson enjoyed his morning paddling in the water, which is quite near the house.
Our three children live in such different surroundings, far apart from each other. Daughter 1 is in Edinburgh, a smallish city but with lots to do. Daughter 2 is in London, a huge, busy and cosmopolitan city. Son is in the country. They were brought up the same way and get on well, but their choices of spouse has made so much difference. Daughter 2 is married to an actor so will never move back here. He needs to be in London. And Son is married to a country girl so that's where they live. And because house prices are so wildly different in the three places, they live in very different houses.
Stupidly, I don't think it ever occurred to me, when they were children or teenagers, that any of them would move away. I knew some people's children did, of course. I just never factored it into my thinking for ours.
Anyway, we had a good day, Grandson got to spend some time with his little cousin and they enjoyed playing in a playpark in the afternoon. He's getting tall. He'll be 8 in the summer. In another 8 years he'll be 16 and who knows where he'll decide to go a few years after that? I hope he sticks around... though whether I'll manage to do so is another question.
I think my pick of the three would be the countryside! That looks beautiful, and remote sounds pretty good to me from the suburbs... I am assuming my children will move away, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised when they don't :) perhaps because I married a foreigner and moved to a whole different country, without a thought for my parents (because I was IN LOVE, spare me)
ReplyDeleteWho we meet and marry, hopefully for love and happily, must surely be the biggest deciding factor for our futures. I don't think many people put neatness to parents higher than that, nor should they. We are quite near to our daughter and granddaughter, but both parties accept that might not always be the case given the state of the house and job markets. My parents never had expectations that any of us would be home birds - one daughter in Australia an one across the country, only my brother stayed near.
ReplyDeleteMy brother and I both stayed around but my two girls have lived on several continents. And New York is very far away from Seattle, although I'm thankful that we can keep in touch by phone. I think there is beauty in all places. If I could choose, I would probably live in a medium sized city. That's what I do. It's easy to find places to walk, places to shop or have coffee/drinks, and if I want crazy traffic, I can drive to Seattle or Portland. I'm also close to water and only a couple of hours away from the Pacific Ocean.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it could seem a loss when you are no longer your children's next-of-kin, but you could also be happy that you have created independent adults and given them wings to fly.
ReplyDeleteThanks to modern technology I can remain in contact with one son in Central Asia and share family activities with the other son and his children on Skype. They know I'm here when they need me. That important aspect of mothering lasts for life, no matter where they make their own homes.
I do agree about village life, though villages are fairly different in the states, we drive to everything, work, volunteering, church, most friends, though I love our house on the lake. We were the ones to move from our daughters.....Pittsburgh to DC, to be followed by #2 daughter a couple of years later, whereupon we upped and moved almost immediately....job, it was nothing she said! Son came to DC but now loves living in the Pacific North West and definitely won’t come back east. God willing and a fair wind AND the house sells, the WT and I will join him and his family in Oregon this summer!
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