[Sunnie]

I will tell you what I think from a Mother's point of view. All 3 of my children are well over 18.. and each lives much more than 3 hours away. Raising them, my hope was that they learned to be healthy, happy, independent adults. Yes, it would be nice if they lived closer..... BUT that being saID, I am so happy that they are independent and successful. I knew that the day would come that they would all fly the nest. I live in a small town and the job situation here is not what it was when I first moved here. I was lucky enough to get a job on the Navy base that is here and it was a VERY well paying job. It made it so much easier to raise my kids being a single/divorced mother. But it is so much harder to get a job on the base now than it was when I went to work for them. (in fact I just retired from the base almost 2 years ago) My kids all wanted to stay here because it was a small town with relatively no crime. But as I said, the job situation was not good. If you didn't work on the base, you worked for minimal wages. So each of my kids has moved away from here to make a successful carreer elsewhere and I couldn't be happier for them. When my only daughter and her husband moved to Phoenix, I was terribly sad, but at the same time happy for them. They are much better off financially and much happier. We all know that money isn't everything, but in the same breath, money issues are the number one cause of divorce. With free long distance cell phones and a short 3 hour drive to be "home" there is no reason not to be just as close to your family. No missed holidays..... and just think of the fun you will have treating your family when they come to visit. They will be proud. Believe me, it isn't easy to let go, but we all know that our children will grow up and make thier own lives. And that is what we worked for all of those years.