Son and family have moved

Callistemon I really feel for you and others who haven’t seen their family for so long. Thank you for your kind words Madgran. I am finding it really difficult, although we’ve already done lots of FaceTime calls, and we’ve bought a television portal which means we can see then on th television. They also have one, but they’re doing a tour of the North Island before they settle to their jobs, so they’re not using theirs yet. I definitely recommend getting a television portal, for curlyclarkia too, as it makes it easier for the children to see you. I nearly always wake up to new photographs sent via WhatsApp and little messages. It’s very hard, I miss my daughter so much that it hurts. And the children who we did so much childcare for right from birth. So I would say to curlyclarkia make sure you have regular contact with the children via FaceTime or some other way where they can see you. I know how much you will miss them. Make arrangements for a visit so you’ve got it in your diary, and try to do that after every visit so you’ll always have the next visit to look forward to. It must help to know when you will see them again. Unfortunately, like Callistemon we can’t make any arrangements to visit yet. It will be easier when we can. And they may decide to just do the two years and then come home. We don’t know yet.

Madgran the weepiness is so hard isn’t it? You feel in control and then some small thing reminds you and the eyes fill up. Where are your family Madgran?

I’m sending you lots of love and hugs. I know how you feel and you will get over it. Try and plan your days around things that you enjoy doing. Just think of the lovely visits you will have in the future.

I know it's not the same, curlyclarkia but at least we do have the advantages of technology today.
Hopefully it won't be too long before you can see them again.

I did find years ago that Skype was difficult but things have improved so much since then for most areas, although not all as the internet, the phone lines go down with annoying frequency.

My family have moved towards the South West maddy. Neither of my grandchildren are keen on Skype/Zoom...they got put off during lockdown as the signal kept breaking up and. At the moment they don't have Internet set up, we tried WhatsApp and it kept cutting out! Ah well it will work out in the end!

Yes the daft weeping is just a pain in the neck, ridiculous really! Oh well!!

Thanks for telling me Madgran. Hopefully you’ll be able to visit soon. When your family get some good internet it will be much better for you. We’ve used the internet to keep in touch with New Zealand so hopefully you’ll have less trouble getting a good connection in this country. Wherever they are we miss them don’t we? I don’t remember feeling this way when they went off to university, but I guess I always knew they would be coming home. When the eldest went to Australia for the best part of a year, I missed him but coped, then the middle one went to Sri Lanka for two years. Again I missed him, but coped, but when my youngest went to do her elective in The Philippines, I left the airport in tears. She was only going for three months too. Maybe because she was the baby, or I was more worried because she was a girl. That’s sexist though, and I worried about the boys too. But I asked her husband to look after her as they left for New Zealand, ‘Look after her, she’s my baby girl.’ And we all cried. It’s the price we pay for love.

I totally understand the hole this leaves !! It’s so difficult you miss them terribly at first . last Feb my son and his wife did the same thing I posted about it on here .They had lived with us due to Covid and came when my gd was 1 month old and stayed for 11 months . Our interactions were constant and I loved it . The tears of missing them gradually dry up and you realize you have more time for you and friends especially now that Covid numbers are down and vaccinations are in place !
Do you drive?
Mine live 2.5 hours away too and I’ve been for a visit overnight 3 times now .
It does get better and you will always have a special bond .

Nanny2020 the original poster appears to have disappeared!

I am in the same position as I said up thread. I expect it will get easier, at the moment its a case of getting through the missing them, changing routines and over time, developing new routines! Glad that you have found it has got better.

I was initially going to reply to the poster but I read on and see there are others in similar situations so this is directed towards all of you who are trying to adjust to this loss. I myself just recently found out our youngest daughter and husband and their daughter will be moving. Too far to drive for a quick visit so it will mean flying there and therefore a stay of a few days. I'm a weeping mess too and can't even imagine not seeing our little granddaughter regularly. Of course we will miss our daughter too but my heart hurts for our granddaughter because in addition to missing her, I am hurting because I'm sure she will miss her grandparents and cousins. My heart aches at the thought that she might be sad. She is an only child and being an only child myself, I know how lonely that can be. I am in tears now as I write this. I sure can't offer any advice to those going through this hecause I can barely cope myself. I'm new on here and this is my first post or comment I guess I should say but if any of you want to chat privately, if that is even an option, I would be okay with that. I chose my user name because I'm hopeful this awful pain will go away in time and I hope the same for all of you.

Hopeful9 Private messages will be in your inbox in the top right hand corner of the screen ..,. not sure if you realised as you said in your message "if that is even an option"