Do you have family close by?

[Kristen]

or are you kinda spread all around the country(or world!)?

What do you think of your current arrangement? Would you like more or less space? What about when your kids grow up...would you like them to live really close by, or do you think it's healthier to have a little distance?

[MathSpeak]

I have a large family, but the core is close-knit. My mother has tons of relatives in Jamaica, Canada and England. However, she and her sister are the only ones here in the states and I grew up in a household with my mom, dad, sis, bros and my aunt. They have come to be what I call FAMILY... Everyone is falls under the RELATIVES category :giggle
My bro has added his wife, my sis has added her bf and I've added AJ :giggle My dad passed on... so, our family is constantly evolving, but still the same concept. Aside from my older bro and his wife, we all live within a stone's throw of each other and I like it that way.
My dad's side has never been close to us.... even when he was alive. The only one we see nowadays is his mom, and I reckon that's only because she watches AJ for me.
When AJ gets older, I want to move... she can stay here... I'll be traveling :rofl

[Mary]

Nope, none of my family is nearby. They are all in California or Oregon, so 1500 or more miles away.

I would like for my parents to move here and, really, it would be the smartest thing for them to do but I doubt it will ever happen. :rolleyes

[ColleenC]

Yes thankfully. My mom and I are so very close, I don't think I could ever move away from her. She is incredibly close to both kids. Also my brother lives with me(Although I barely see him since he's always out of town working)and my sister lives here too. My dad lives about 1.5 hours away on an acreage, but I see him several times a year. My Uncle lives here too.

We also have family spread out. All of my moms relatives are in England as are my dads, but most of my dads family has passed on, except for people he doesn't really care about.

The kids also have 7 cousins that live in our city too. They are all really close in age, so that's nice.

[Jeri]

My mom, brother, sister, and niece all live here in San Diego. They are the only relatives I keep in touch with. Jim's family is all on the east coast except for a cousin in N. Cali and another cousin in Utah.

[Shana]

My parents live about 10 minutes from us, and my sister and her family about 30 minutes away.

UNFORTUNATELY last week we found out that my parents are being transferred to Tacoma, WA :( I am really excited that they are going to such a neat area (and will be fun to visit :D) but I am so sad they are not going to be a "stone's throw" away anymore :sigh

My other sister lives near Boston and my brother just outside of Nashville.

I wish very much, that we all lived within miles of each other. I adore my siblings and have come to appreciate and value my parents very much.

[Kristi]

None of our family is super close to us and that is fine with me. I would like for my parents and siblings to be a little bit closer (they are 10 hrs away in Fla) and Tim's family to be a little bit further away :rofl They are only 5 hrs away in NC and they are always visting or we are always going down there. I am so thankful that Tim is in the military and can't be bullied into moving onto the same street as the rest of the family like his sister are. And even if he gets it out it will never happen atleast not as long as I am living with him. His grandparents are way too controlling.

[Jejune]

We have no family nearby, although my family is accessible, since they're only 300 miles away. His family is in Florida and Venezuela. Next year we will have family close by for the first time, as my sister is going to Berkeley (yay, Erin!) and my cousin is going to Mills. I'm very excited, but generally speaking, I like keeping family at a bit of a distance. I adore my mom, but she wouldn't be available very often if we were closer in distance, and while I love my family, many people are easier to deal with if you have a little space.

[Renita]

we are fairly spread out. The majority of my family lives in New Mexico, with a few living in Arizona, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and 2 cousins attending college in New York and New Jersey. My husband's family is spread out as well. His parents live 90 minutes away from us, but we are the ones that normally visit. We try & visit at least once a month when they are home. They spend their winters on the east coast with one of his brothers. Anyway, his family lives in Michigan, North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.

I would prefer to have some family close by...we have NO sitter, so we rarely get time to ourselves. It sucks, but what can you do? Find a sitter, but then there is that whole trust issue....

[Jejune]

I would prefer to have some family close by...we have NO sitter, so we rarely get time to ourselves. It sucks, but what can you do? Find a sitter, but then there is that whole trust issue....

Renita, we had that problem until this year when we discovered a reputable hourly drop in center for kids. It's like a supervised indoor playground, and we've had great success, and the rate is very good - lower than I would usually pay a sitter. ($13 an hour for three kids) I think I remember that you're in a large urban area, so you might have something of the sort where you are, too. I wish I'd found this place earlier.

[Jbird]

Other than an uncle who lives about 2 hours away, I don't have any close family members outside of my husband and our kids. I often wish that I did. His family is closer than mine, but his mother is deceased and his father doesn't take much of an interest on a regular basis. I always wanted to be a good distance from my parents, but I feel differently now that I have children. I wish my kids got to spend more time with their grandparents, and I know we could use the relief from time to time.

[Christi]

My parents and sisters and their families are all in town. Chris' brother and grandparents and 4 aunts are in the county, with others right across the state line. Chris' parents live about 4 hours away but are in pretty often to visit. I honestly wish that they would hurry up and move home, cause as it is, we are expected to drop everything and visit when they are here. If they lived here we could have some sort of planned visit schedule or something.

[Marcie]

Our mothers (our fathers are both deceased) and my 4 brothers are all about an hour away in the same community (Chatham-Kent, Ontario). David's 2 sisters live about 4 hours away in the Toronto area. We're in Windsor, Ontario.

[Beka]

My mom is a 40 minute walk away- well 40 minutes carrying a baby, 1 slothenly pre-teen, 1 preschoolers and 1 toddler speed awalk away. She drives though. We see my parents often- my mom calls at least once a day, as does my dad! My dad will often pop in during the week, we see them both for tea once a week too and alternate saturdays my mother takes the 3 eldest for the whole day, they come with us on our annual summer vacation too. My kids have a really close relationship with them and it's fabulous, at times it leaves us open to undue emotional blackmail but when weighed up you can't detract from the benefit my kids get of a close relationship with them.

My mil is in the same town as us, she's always there if we need her but she keeps her distance- she's very much about letting her kids live their own lives but she is always there if we call.

FIL is around 200 mile away, i'd be happier if he were 2000 mile away but you can't have all the luck! I despise him, we aim to see him less than once a year and that suits us nicely!

My sister is 250 mile away and i miss her- we argue when we're together but i love her to bit and i do wish she were nearer as having no car it's hard to spend time with her.

SILs one is in our town, the other is in the nearest city and they both drive so we see them often and our kids have great relationships with their cousins which i love, it makes me sad to know when my sister has kids they might not have that closeness.

[Christine]

My mom, brother and step-dad live literally around the corner. It's good and it's not. I think if there wasn't tension between us because of the 5 months they lived here, it would be better.

Dave's parents and one sister live in town. One of his brothers lives about an hour away.

Other than that, my dad is in upstate NY, my sister is in Las Vegas, Dave's other brother is in Texas (we think) and all the extended family is spread out.

It's good the way it is, I guess. We've had to set up boundaries with everyone who's close by and that can be exhausting - but it works!

[kcmomma]

All of my family lives within 3 hours (and most within an hour drive of me). I do have a cousin who just moved with her DH to Fort Polk LA. HE's in the Army or Air Force...not sure which.

DH's family lives within an hour of here too. Although we don't see all of his aunts and uncles as often as my side. My family is INCREDIBLY close...probably too much so for DH's liking. I still have cousins that Dh can't remember their names :giggle and we've been married for 14 yrs.

[Mally's Mom]

All of our family lives an hour away (they all live in the same town 3 miles apart from each other, his side and my side). It is kind of nice them not being so close and in your business, but then there are sometimes it is a PITA not being close to where they could help in a seconds notice. I know it has helped our relationship though as we have to lean on each other. My old pastor's wife once told me that it is good for a relationship at first to live at least 30 mins. away from your parents, it causes you to depend on your spouse not your parents still.

[BandB'sMomma]

The majority of my family lives within 1/2hour of us. Wehave very few that live far away. My parents (who are the most important) live only 5 minutes from us, which is fantastic.

When Brennan and Bailee grow up I hope they will want to stay close-by.

[Jo]

We have family around for 6 months out of the year. My parents are snowbirds and as soon it turns cold, they fly the coup for Florida. My brother and SIL live in Orlando. We joke that we have a custody arrangement with our parents.

I wish they lived here year round because their house in Minnesota is an hour and a half away. Perfect because they can't drop in but close enough for day visits and babysitting if necessary. Alas...that isn't going to happen, especially since they have a new grandchild on the way in Florida.

[Brooke]

Most of our family lives w/in a 40 min drive of here.

In-Laws: 7 mins away, they are in the North side of town, we're in the middle
Eric's aunt and cousin we're close with: 15 mins away
My Mom, my Dad & stepmom - each about 25-30 mins away. Mom is NW of us, Dad is SW of us
My sister and BIL - about 40/45 mins SW of here
My cousins - about 15 mins away
My Grandma - about 25 min away

*In Chicago, we don't measure things in miles, it's all about timing w/o traffic. LOL Any of these, with traffic, could take an hour or more.*

[BeckaUS]

Most of my family is close. My mom, 2 siblings and their families live in our town as do most of my aunts/uncles/cousins. I have an uncle several states away, an uncle across the big state of tx, and an aunt over an hour away. I love that I have so much family so close.

[Faith]

Well my parents live on the same street as us...and my (paternal) grandparents live with us so that's pretty close. :haha I do have one aunt and her family that live in New Jersey but the rest of my family all live within a 2 hour drive from here.

My family is INCREDIBLY close...probably too much so for DH's liking. I still have cousins that Dh can't remember their names :giggle and we've been married for 14 yrs.

That's sounds like my family...:lmao

[Heather]

A lot of my family is right here near us. Dh was in the military when we got married and when he got out, we stayed here- which was what we Both wanted. He's fine with not living right by his family(there are issues behind that though ;)), but does get a little homesick sometimes.

I'm happy to be near my family. They drive me batty sometimes, but I'm a total momma's girl and daddy's girl and Granny's girl... so yeah.. I've got that working against me ;).