My 23 year old son, Cory informed me last week that sometime between mid-October and November 1 he and his girlfriend are moving to South Carolina to live with her mom - we live in Michigan. He has only been dating Liz for four months and we've only even met her twice!!
He has been wanting to move to warmer climates for a while now and this has been the plan upon graduating from college. However, he has changed schools twice, and blown off an entire semester of credits, so he is still a full year of classes and and internship away from graduating. To make matters worse, he hasn't yet told my husband - which I told him I wasn't going to do! And, he is currently living in an apartment with his sister/our daughter and he pays 1/2 the rent - so he will be leaving 7 months early out of the lease.
Neither one of them have jobs lined up and they are not engaged. He assures me they have talked about their "future" and plan to be together. At the risk of sounding like a total lunatic - wonderful, I'll never really know my future grandchildren either!
I know that we raise our kids to be independent adults, but I feel like he is turning his back on everyone and just walking away. And, as we don't know Liz at all - I feel abandoned. I've tried talking to him and he just gets angry saying their opposite work schedules is why he hasn't brought her around, but that he talks about us all the time. He is going to continue owing his sister rent (cause finding another roommate is not easy), he has a large car payment and I'm quite certain my husband is going to make him pay his own car insurance - so tack another couple hundred each month to the already large tab. He just doesn't seem to "get it". Michigan is not a great state to live in right now, but he has a good paying job and until recently was registered for fall classes. He wants to take a semester off so he will want to go back (usually not what happens) and just doesn't understand that most pay scales are lots less in S. Carolina than in MI.
We have always been very close and my heart is just breaking here. Every time I try to talk to him he just gets defensive and angry. I feel like if I say anything else, he will leave asap just to get away. My daughter also feels like she is losing her brother. They only recently got close and he is now sarcatistic and rude around her.
Just one more reason my little Sissy is so special to me. I can just cuddle her and cuddle her and she loves me right back!!!
Thanks for listening-
Jodie