As many of us have figured out—or already knew—by the time you get to our age, being with family trumps just about everything else. To do that sometimes means leaving behind a life in a place you chose for other reasons and where you might have liked to stay. But age has a way of rearranging our priorities.
Sometimes it’s a parent’s age that gets us moving. Mike Bradley left Texas for Ohio in 2015 to help his sister care for his mother in her later years. Sometimes it’s because little kids have a way of growing up and you want to catch your grandchildren in those precious years before they go by. Monty and JoAnn King Okey just moved from Manchester, MI, where they were longtime and very active members of the community, to West Chicago to be close to six of their nine grandchildren.
In Mike’s case, when he moved to Cincinnati, his daughter and her family moved in with him and his wife. After his mother passed away last year, his daughter bought his mom’s house and his son moved from Dallas to live with Mike. Now the whole family lives within four doors of each other.
Pamela Conn Hyde and her family took the family compound concept a step further. When she sold her home in Ft. Lauderdale last year, she didn’t exactly downsize. Pam, her sister, niece, and nephew bought an 8-bedroom, 5-bath house together on a lake near Orlando. They have the big upstairs, she has the big downstairs, they share the kitchen, and it’s congenial all the way around.
Lynn Umpleby Fuentes has her family close by, too. She and her husband moved to Sedona, AZ with her son in 2014. In 2020, her daughter moved there and now, Lynn says, “I love it that we’re all within a few miles of each other.”
I totally get that. My husband and I recently left the beautiful Pacific Northwest to move to Michigan. I got tired of having people say, on hearing our news, “You’re moving to Michigan? What for??” For family, that’s what for. My younger sister and her family are now a mile away and Tim’s sister-in-law is even closer. We can take walks together, trade clothes, help rake leaves, pick up a family member at the airport, borrow a salad bowl, or drop in just to say hello. The Cascade Mountain range is no longer in sight, but we’re in small town heaven! After years of living 2500 miles from our families, we’re home to stay. And really, I don’t care if it snows.
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