The Distance Dilemma

With a family vacation including a family reunion on the cusp of my plans, it has me thinking a lot about how close is too close and how far is too far.

Growing up I didn't live close to cousins. Not that it made much of a difference, my eldest cousin is 10 years younger than me.

My grandmother and grandfather did live close for awhile. My grandmother lived just a city away from us in Georgia, I remember visiting her place, and her being there for my first day of Kindergarten, sometimes she'd pick me up from school. I imagine that must have been nice for my mom. But she and my grandfather moved West when I was still in elementary school.

My husband had the opposite experience. Most of his live he lived in the same county as most of his cousins. They all grew up together and had family get-togethers often.

When I first met his extended family--Exactly five years ago, it was quite overwhelming. It seemed like millions of screaming kids were running swarming all over the place. He didn't even know all of their names. I thought I'd never memorize his eight aunt and uncle's names... But after about a year I had their names, and their spouses names down.

I was never really turned on to the idea of living that close to so much family. Siblings and parents--Sure. But being an earshot away from a millions cousins? I wasn't so sure. After living near that for a few years, and now being away from that while thinking of having kids I'm getting a little sad thinking that our kids won't be near any of their grandparents.

Will my kids not get the same spoiling our siblings will because we live further away? Who will we trust to babysit our child? Will being too close be smothering? Will the benefits actually outweigh the downsides to the location?

I wouldn't want to put the burden of watching our kids on anyone who doesn't want to... But I imagine family wouldn't mind as much as others. Especially not grandparents.

I do believe there is such a thing as "too close." But that hasn't ever been a problem I worry too much about. Living a few hours away is nice because you're close enough for weekend trips, but gar enough away to avoid the "drop in."

I often find myself wondering if it's worth it to move closer to family to get those benefits, or if we'll make our own close friends--Like family, wherever we are, and have the same bond. Besides... I wasn't close to my family most of my life, and I made it just fine.

What do you think? Do you live close to family? Why or why not?

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PS: Amidst my family reunion plans, I'll be taking a tiny break from my personal blog updates. I'll still be around, and perhaps have time for an update or two, but I'm planning something a little different and fun for all of you.

The week of a 6th I'll have a giveaway a day. I'm still working out the details but right now I have more than 20 sponsors. I'm hoping to get about 25, so if you know of someone who has a small business or makes things they'd like to have promoted here, have them holla at me at babymakingmachine{at}gmail.com.