Grandkids moving across country

It is a bereavement when they move away, there is no getting away from it, and I am afraid you will have to work through that. But you can keep in touch through technology, you can send them letters and presents, and if you can arrange a tentative date to go and visit later in the year, before they leave, it will give you something to work towards.

Time will heal, the first week will be the worst, but you will get through this and adapt.

I'm sorry but its not a bereavement, some of your family are moving to improve their life slwolfson you should be pleased they are getting on with their lives. Of course you will miss them but with all the technology available now you can easily keep in touch. Once the pandemic is under control you will be able to visit. Enjoy time with the rest of your family and making plans to visit the ones who are moving.

It is not a bereavement.
I can understand how upset you must feel and how you will miss them but they are still here, albeit further away and you will be able to see them again when all this is over.
The best thing you can do is to start planning your first trip to visit them and to stay safe in the meantime.

You're so lucky to be near the rest of your family, too, they must be equally precious.

Thank goodness for modern technology too.

I would treasure the years you spent with them and be happy for their new adventure

I agree it is not a beaverement- life just didnt has you envisioned

I totally agree with sodapop it’s far from a bereavement
you ve had a lot of time with your grandkids some of us don’t get that, be happy for them a wonderful new life You moved to be with them and have had 9 years and you have other family there
Lady you are blessed

Thank you so much for your encouragement setting tentative visiting date is a great idea!

Not sure this last message posted.
Of course I'm happy for them.
When I say I have other family on
West coast, one daughter is 10 hour drive, other 2 are 2 hrs each. My son who is moving is 30 min.
Guess I'm sensitive, but feel a bit judged.
First time on a forum. Looking for wisdom, and maybe I needed the slap:-)

Welcome , treat any negative comments as toilet water , all goes down the drain where it belongs
My parents emigrated to Canada when my three were young
All I can say is though they didn’t see them every weekend they had the best summer holidays being thoroughly loved and loving in return
Take small steps and write proper letters kids were always thrilled to get them
Good luck

Bereavement is a general term for loss....you can feel bereaved over loss of a loved job, a move, anything you care about really. You will feel some of the stages of grief and that's ok provided you don't (I know you won't) guilt trip the kids over it. You feel what you feel...but those feelings will lessen and maybe pass as you get used to your new situation. When i lost my husband, the most comforting thing anyboday said was a letter from a society where we had been joint members and I had to change the membership. She said "I will pray for you in your new life" because that's what it was for me, and is for you....newness in your life. Not all newness is good and we often need to hunt hard find the good but life goes on and you will too.

Don’t feel judged at all, we have all had our own diverse journeys with our grand children and this forum is really to give the poster the benefit of everyone’s experiences and knowledge.
No one can judge how you feel and yes, you will feel totally bereft to have them move away , but for the younger generation, life goes on and they clearly have life changes they need to make. I am sure you will find many ways to keep in touch and to visit that will work for you under the new circumstances. In fact start researching the new area with the children now in order to find some lovely new places to explore and activities to try, that will provide you and the children with something solid to hang on to and to look forward to. At the moment, it’s like a fear of the unknown, try to concentrate on How you will adapt to this new stage of your life to ensure the closeness is maintained... and as I said when we were parted from our family...no one can take away our memories ❤️ and you will also have the opportunity to make plenty more.

I have one daughter who lives nearby and one at the other end of the country. I feel just as close to the distant one as I do to the close one. We talk alot on the phone, send presents for the children and each other, look at their photos on email etc. and see them as often as we can. I suggest keeping in touch in any way you can as often as you can. Don't forget they will miss you too, and when you visit you'll have lovely holidays and precious time with them.

I guess it feels as if your heart is being ripped out?
I promise there will be an upside to this.
You will all want to be the best , kindest, most tolerant and understanding versions of yourselves when you do meet up.
If there is a problem you will hear from your son/daughter quite a bit until it is resolved and then everyone will get on with their normal lives with a weekly phone call. that is healthy. My daughter and I have not been able to see each other since last September , they live about a 4 hour drive from here, due to Covid. They are coming up here in May for a long weekend when the law changes and we are all really excited. We have kept in touch throughout. She has sent lovely thoughtful presents to us and we speak once a week unless there is some sort of problem happening and then we are each at the end of the phone to help 24/7.
We would love to see them more often but we are just happy that they are all healthy and happy and we are grateful for what we have.
As the Covid rules become less restrictive and the garden beckons with the better weather, you could think about volunteer work, joining interest groups etc.

Cheer up! My parents moved abroad later in life, so when I had children I used to take them to visit for several weeks a year. As they got older and went to school, we spent most of the Summer holidays with them. So whilst my kids only saw that set of grandparents once a year, they spent "quality" time with them and they remember it it well. If you added it all up, they probably spent more time with my parents than with their other grandparents - just in a different way!

DiLs parents live in Australia, we live 200 miles away. Guess who sees the GCs most? Long holiday trips in both directions mean that our 3-4 weekends a year are nothing in comparison. I am sure you will have lots more good times with your family.

Hi slwolfson. Welcome to gransnet! I totally identify with how you are feeling today as that could be me! My DD & 2 beautiful GDs are planning a move from UK to Europe just as soon as lockdown allows. This has been on the cards for some time but I think Brexit tipped it for my European SIL who now wants to return home taking the family with him. There’s no easy way to be positive, but positive we must be, we are the grown ups here and have to look beyond our own thoughts if loss to what they will hopefully gain. It’s hard though when most mums and DDs can’t wait to see each other for a big hug and mine is planning to leave the country! I remain hopeful that we can all keep in close contact as my DD & I are essentially very close, and I can still be an important part of my 5 & 3 yr olds growing up years. Can I also say what an enormous help I find all the thoughtful comments I read on gransnet on this subject and how it boosts my spirits. Keep smiling you are a wonderful woman!

Exactly two years ago my daughter, who then lived 300 miles from me and who I could visit by train, told me that they were moving to Massachusetts. My grandsons were 10 and 12 at that time. Like you, slwolfson, I was bereft. My husband is 85 and has dementia, and I knew that it was going to be hard work travelling to visit them.

Since then Covid intervened and not only is it unlikely that I will ever now be able to visit them, but they have not made any visits home, as they had planned, as my son in law is shielding. I detest facetiming and skyping, and felt that I would be jumping through huge hoops to stay in touch.

It's not been like that at all. Since they saw how uncomfortable I felt facetiming, all our calls have been by telephone, free, courtesy of Whatsapp, and usually longer than half an hour. I talk with and Whatsapp the boys independently of their parents - their main interests are sport and reading, and we discuss football (sorry, soccer!), lacrosse and books.

I am actually in touch with my daughter more than I was when she lived in England. We Whatsapp several times every day, discuss everything, share photographs. We talk roughly every 10 days.

I have found that she has needed plenty of support in her new life. Although she is a confident and efficient person, Covid, an 18 month search for a house, her father's dementia, have been uppermost alongside guiding her boys into the education system and supporting them when they had not been able to make friends or go to school because of Covid.

You will probably still grieve for the old, cosy life you had with the family, but their new interests and the fact that you do not need to travel abroad to see them, will compensate. It is really interesting seeing them navigating a new life and new State, and gives you lots to talk about. I take cuttings from local papers about things which interest my daughter, and we discuss books, tv, life in general. If you can encourage them in their new life and take an interest in everything, you will find a different kind of closeness. If you read to your grandchildren now, perhaps you could Zoom once a week and read them a story?

I wish you well in this new phase of your life, slwolfson. My life is not as I had envisaged, but there is still much to be content about.

It's not a bereavement through death but it FEELS like a bereavement through loss.

Many of us on here have children and grandchildren who have moved overseas. I agree at the beginning it’s tough, this past year worse than ever as we have been unable to travel to spent some precious time with them. But you do sort of get used to it, again thanks to modern technology you can see them as well as keep in touch. Be brave and start planning your visit!

Of course you will feel grief for you 'loss' but that will pass as you will find that there are pleasures to be had from the contact you do have, the trips you make to see them, etc.
One thing I would say is to try not to let your negatives colour their excitement at a new future. It won't be without some reservations that your family are making this move and it can only be because they feel that their life balance will be better. I am sure that their happiness is paramount in your mind so it would be unfair to laden them with guilt. There's a vast difference between telling them someone you will miss them when they are gone but are still happy for them rather than making them feel you are being abandoned. Being a fly in the ointment can only bring resentment.
As life opens up again, try to find things to do where you can increase your social life so you have less time to brood. Throw yourself into volunteering (lots of schools over here love to have people in to hear children read) and look at how you can improve your life rather than depending on your grandchildren who would make a natural shedding of their family ties in due course anyway.

I fully understand how you feel.

Do you like Oregon? If so perhaps that thought can cheer you up a little.

Please, don't take the sour-pusses' comments to heart, For some odd reason, some gransentters seem to like making unkind comments, especially to those who are posting for the first time.

It happened to me, and I nearly didn't come back, as I too was looking for sympathy.

How computer savvy are you? Zoom might be a good way of keeping in touch once they have moved. And if both you and they have WhatsApp on your phones you can save a lot on phone calls.

Of course it feels like a bereavement, whether you are happy for them or not. you're used to a physically close relationship and that hurts when it's taken away. But that pain will ease and I'd use Zoom/facetime...everything. Your relationship with your grandkids will remain as important to them as it is to you. holiday there, invite them to you and it won't be that long before the kids can come to you on their own! Mourn the present, but know you can delight in the future.

Try Stars messaging for keeping in touch. It's supposed to be safe for kids to use. We keep in touch with our DGD that way. I've also written her letters and sent stories that I've written.

She's always been a 4 to 5 hour drive away but we've been involved in her life quite a bit at various times, although not as regularly now. She's big enough now to come to stay with us or for us to take her away for a few days. She's just told me that she likes spending time with us.

It's worth putting in the effort to maintain contact then, when you are able to visit, you aren't a stranger and your relationship can just carry on from where you left off.

loss, bereavment can share a similar process, losing an item is not the same as losing a big part of your life, emotions are involved .I went through my family going overseas 4 years ago, i told myself i had not lost them, but it felt like it. I went through a grief process for some time, it took me by surprise. Now i visit or i can move to be near them if i want to.

Of course it feels like a bereavement and ignore all those who tell you it’s not. You are losing those you love dearly, albeit not forever, but a big part of them and of course you will have feelings of loss. Don’t be made to feel guilty or judged either. Everyone deals with things differently. Of course you are glad for them, want them to be happy etc. But that won’t alter your feelings either. You will feel low, that’s only natural but you will get to feel better. Plan something for when they’ve gone, something for you that you enjoy so you’ve got something to look forward to. Keeping occupied is key for you I think. I felt bereft when my son moved 200 miles away 18 months ago but I got through it and I’m sure you will too. My answer was to go back to work and I still work now. Wouldn’t work for everyone but it did for me. Good luck ❤️