How Do You Justify Living Away from Your Family?

[whaleboneman]

9 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Justify?

 

 

Thanks so much for my morning laugh.

[nasanews]

No body on this planet knows you like your mother, and listen to their miraculous sayings about your life. 

I wish my parents still alive.

[Andrew Dwyer]

My mother ( god bless her ) passed in 2000.
My father is 88 , lives on his own, with 3 dogs for company, exercise and pleasure.
My fathers physical health Is good and mentally okay except for forgetting a few things.
I go back ( uk ) every 3 months and stay for a month purely to spend some quality time with the old fella.
I have a brother and 2 kids and between them are keeping an eye on him .
He is deteriorating and it's obvious that he won't be able to live alone for much longer.
But, all he wants out of life right now is to live in the house he ( and my mother ) bought in 1955, sit on his sofa with the dogs at his feet and a cup of tea in his hand.
Then, he walks the dogs 3 times a day on the moors next to his house and chats to fellow dog walkers.

Things do happen, he collapsed a few times ( a pacemaker fitting cured that ) and he loses his wallet every other month, also his personal higiene is coming into question !

But, I have a duty to travel back and forth to see him as my brother and my kids have a duty to visit him after work or at weekends.

Maybe I'm not answering the OP's question but as someone has already stated we are all living in different situations and we all deal with those situations differently.

[Chou Anou]

Easy for me, not that I live in Thailand now, but I did for six years, and I'll be returning to retire: my parents passed away 27 and 12 years ago, and I'm not close to my siblings at all...in fact, two of them live a 5-hour drive away from me now, yet I haven't seen them in 12 years!  Something to do with their choice to become what we call in the US "uneducated white trash" (with a heavy dose of anti-city sentiment and racism), despite having been born into a middle-class family that highly valued tolerance and education (both my parents had Master's degrees, as do I; all but one sibling dropped out of high school).  Go figure.

[steven100]

well I don't have anyone .....  I just stay in my room all day and drink

[smotherb]

7 hours ago, nasanews said:

Off topic seriously 555

Not sure how that is off topic, the topic is living away from family--people do live near parents and aunts and uncles; and they are family. But, okay, 555

[Andrew Dwyer]

well I don't have anyone .....  I just stay in my room all day and drink

I heard you have a big family ?
And they are all called Leo !! [emoji51]

Sorry.

[dick dasterdly]

20 hours ago, zyphodb said:

Rather a silly question that smacks of either trolling for a reaction or sour grapes,

 everyone's circumstances are different so there will be as many different answers to it as there are ex pats living here..... 

 

12 hours ago, eldragon said:

You could cut and paste this post to just about every thread on TVF. If you don't value "different answers" and the opinions of others, then what other reason is there to come here?

But he makes a good point in that everyones' circumstances are different, and therefore  there will be (nearly) as many different answers as there are ex pats living here!

 

The OP asks an interesting question, but many answers would require lengthy explanations.

 

I've no doubt moving so far away from (loved) immediate family will prove difficult - even impossible - for those that are used to having them living nearby.

[watso63]

I cut the apron strings when I was 17 years old. Families are way overrated IMHO.

[212Roger]

No parents alive, no brothers and sistes, and "It's MY Life."

[rogeroc]

On 7/20/2017 at 6:52 AM, watso63 said:

I cut the apron strings when I was 17 years old. Families are way overrated IMHO.

 I agree it is about the quality of the person not whether you are related on not. I always think it is so crazy that when a couple in UK get married and that can only afford to invite 30 or so to the after wedding dinner that they are expected to invited relatives they haven't seen for 10 years over and above their good friends whom they see on a daily or weekly basis.

 

So in direct answer to the OP i believe it depends on what your family have done for you and the quality of that relationship.

[i claudius]

My parents have died .my daughter moved away and now has a family of her own but we still talk and they visit here and i visit there as do my siblings.
My Thai wife our son and i used to live in the UK but now live here our son has left uni and has a good job .stays with us at weekends.my Thai family are great.luckily they are not badly off so no problems there .all in all life is great .with skype .line whatsap etc everyone keeps in touch so easily.unlike when i was first here and had tp pay nearly 2 pounds a minute to talk to my now wife when i was back in the UK . Those were the days .not

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[steven100]

as i mentioned ...  i don't have any friends or anyone so i just drink piss in my room all day everyday ...

[Andrew Dwyer]

as i mentioned ...  i don't have any friends or anyone so i just drink piss in my room all day everyday ...

Awwww man I feel sorry for you Steven !

PM me your address and I'll send over a litre and a half of mine for you [emoji51]

[thaibeachlovers]

You get back what you give.

My parents sent me off to boarding school so they didn't have to look after me, and I was on my own and working after I left school so why would I have stuck around to look after them?

[Katia]

On 7/19/2017 at 4:19 PM, zyphodb said:

Rather a silly question that smacks of either trolling for a reaction or sour grapes,

 everyone's circumstances are different so there will be as many different answers to it as there are ex pats living here..... 

Or someone who's catching hell from friends/other family members for being away...

 

 

[Mac98]

Divorced, took in each of four kids as my ex kicked them out when they turned 18 and child support was trimmed. Helped them get through college, or start out in life. Now they are in their 40s, I'm disabled, living on SS. My kids say I look so much healthier and happier when I return from my six-month stays in LOS and are OK with me moving there this year. Three of them have visited Thailand with me. I think they can now fend for themselves. (Now my ex wants to see the place.)

[Jonah Tenner]

Friends you choose

Family you get.