A few days ago I had a long phone call with my mother, and told her about our plans to move overseas. She handled it better than I expected, and I give her a lot of credit. (She expressed far more unhappiness years ago when we told her we were moving from upstate New York, about five minutes away from her, to Florida.)
Of course, that was 22 years ago, so she’s certainly had a chance to adjust to our being far away.
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I explained, as calmly as I could, our reasons. The biggest one is that we just can’t survive economically in the US any more. The cost of health insurance (if we could even purchase it) is approximately three times the size of our mortgage, and we all know how little even the best policies today cover.
Add the fact that my husband, with a fairly new Master’s degree, wants to teach but has little chance of getting hired and a few other factors and you have a strong case for expatriation.
We talked some about how angry I am that we feel an overseas move is our only viable option, even though it’s an adventure I’ve always wanted.
Still, it was not an easy conversation, and some tears were shed.
At least it’s a conversation that’s taken place, and we can now move forward and include her in the discussion.
Of course, we still need to have this conversation with my husband’s parents. . .
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Have you had similar conversations with important family members? How did you and they handle it? You can share your experience by clicking the Comment link below.