My brother and his little family are moving to Montana. It's the furthest from home any of my siblings have ever gone permanently. My parents are also moving...although only a short walk from the house they built when I was 16.
Scott is 18 months younger then me and we were so close as toddlers that he felt like part of myself.
We had disagreements sometimes, but for the most part I would do anything - and give up any toy - just to know he loved me. We remained close through junior high and high school. I was the first person he told when he was getting married. We often spent time together even after I had graduated from college and he was living and working 3 hours away from where I lived and worked. He also chose a profession very similar to mine in many ways - I am a nurse, and he is a police chief. We both would put our lives on the line to save a complete stranger's life.
Change is difficult for me. Especially if it involves my family. I was too frightened, as a child, to tell even my parents what had happened to me. All because my abuser threatened my family. Since that time I have been, understandably, very protective and almost over-attached to each member of my family - and, by extension, their families. Although I can rationally say it is fine for my brother to move, fine for my parents to build a new house, emotionally, I am a mess about it. The way we think and feel - how convuluted it is! And how much of it is determined when we are just kids?
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| My brother Scott and his twin girls, Katie and Jess |
It will be hard to lose the many visits per year we have shared together. I am thankful his move is coming in the era of free internet videocalls, text messaging, and Instagram. I hope all the technology facilitates a close relationship even though we are far away.
What kind of change do you resist? Do you struggle with long-distance relationships within your family, wishing they lived closer to yours?
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