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By way of background, JY and I sold our home of 38 years in California in the summer of 2023. We had been talking about selling and relocating for a few years; even went so far as to meet with a realtor in 2021. Three of our four adult children and ALL of our grandchildren live out of state (Texas and AZ). But JY's stroke in February (since 100% recovered) sealed the deal - it was time to go.
All four of our children had been brought home to the house from the hospital and three of our granddaughters. Needless to say, saying goodbye was tough for all. In the middle of listing and showing the home, every kid had to come and stay to say goodbye.
Two weeks ago we got a teary Facetime call from Daughter and her daughter #2 (7-year-old, Scout). It seems a new extended Bluey episode had dropped unexpectedly and it was all about selling the family manse. Bandit (Dad!) had received a job offer in another city for more money, and he thought he was doing what was right for his family.
I've since watched the episode (with son #2 and his teary family); there's packing and multiple inquiries of WHY do we have to move?? from Bluey and sister Bingo. Even I got a little teary-eyed when Bluey and Bingo entered their now-empty bedroom.
Daughter and her family have lived in seven different homes (one of them our backhouse) so it was obviously our old house that was evoking the tears.
Both sobbing, they recounted the episode in detail.
Finally my son-in-law entered the screen and offered to take daughter and daughters out to lunch, I guess in an attempt to dilute the hormones and save the weekend.
Scout held onto the phone and chattered her way out to the car; on the way she proudly showed off her pet crawdaddy in a bucket of water; she had rescued him from last weekend's boil.
"There used to be three, but that one ate the other two" she stated matter of factly.
So … not as soft-hearted as one would think.
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Discussion (14)
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I'm not prepared to admit the degree to which I have been obsessed with Bluey lately. I maintain that it is the best show on television right now.
"The Sign" was a terrific episode, and it really made me think. I was a lucky kid; my family moved when I was not quite 5, too young to really care, and then stayed in one place for the rest of my childhood. More than fifty years later, I can still go visit my mom and sleep in my old bedroom.
When I was a kid, there were multiple occasions when I suffered the trauma of having a friend move away. It happened so many times that I wondered if I was cursed; I lost several best friends that way. (And in those days, when a friend moved away, it really did mean the end of the friendship. You'd promise to write letters, but that never lasted.)
But somehow I never really thought about what it must have been like to the kids whose families were moving. If you're a kid in that position, you're losing not just one friend, but all of your friends, everyone and everything you know. Maybe everything you've ever known. And probably not for any reasons you can really understand, at least if you're really little.
Kids are resilient, as they say.
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Longest I lived anywhere was 5 years- normal was 3. Based on that experience, the wife and I resolved to stay in one place forever: It just never worked.
Fascinating that around here I have as friends multiple multigenerational residents, several early from the early 1800's. Almost without exception - they don't know how valuable that stability is.
But - @Annefy - do you know where you're moving?
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No They ain't.
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Yes. We have purchased a home two doors from my daughter in College Station, TX. (An employee of my SIL is renting it temporarily)
For the moment, we’re in southern Utah while JY helps my brother with a production project. I’m spending a lot of time in AZ helping son #1 and son #3 with their toddlers and new babies.
We’ll probably get to TX next year sometime
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