[renielarson]

Originally Posted by brightspot01

Our daughter wasn't so upset with our move from Michigan down here to Florida as she was with us selling her childhood home...the one she grew up in, matured in, dated in, got married in. Not literally, but you know what I mean.

Although she is in her 30s, to this day, she cannot drive past the house she grew up in and the one we sold. That saddens her more than our move. What's ironic is that the young family who bought our home is about her (and her husband's) age and I know they would get along, like each other, and even become socially involved together. However, she refuses to meet them because she wants nothing to do with going back into her home with someone else living there but us!

She loves it here in The Villages and our birthday present to her, every year, is to fly her down for a "getaway". She totally understands why we moved yet it doesn't heal her pain of not having her childhood home there for her to come to.

Our son and family live in Leesburg so he, obviously, has no problem with our move...LOL! We love to babysit the grands whenever we can!

Originally Posted by rockyisle

When we moved here 3 years ago, our daughter was very angry as well. Felt we were abandoning her and our two grandchildren (16 & 20) at the time. We had kept our home in NH and went back for summers, but she refused to come to visit us (even with free tickets). We finally got her down here last winter for a week and on the second night she said, "Okay, I get it. This place is amazing". But it was a tough 2 years of her not embracing our changes.
Now we are about to sell our home on a lake. It's where our grandchildren grew up so this is a toughie for all of us. Last summer we sat her down and offered to sell her the house at a very low price. We felt that she would inherit it when we die, so why not give her a fighting chance to own it now. She has a great job - and a wonderful partner - so they talked it through and decided for themselves that they didn't want it. When the last of their kids are out of college in 4 years, they want to travel. Great decision. My husband and I felt good about offering it to her and I know it went a long way toward mending of hurt feelings to do it. She realized how much we love her and wanted to include her in our decisions.
My only piece of advice (having lived through this) is to continue to call once a month and leave a message of love. Don't forget birthdays, etc - a Mother's love is forever... it's what we do. And our children will always be children at times such as this. Some embrace change, others do not.
But this I know. The clock is ticking on OUR lives right now. We've raised our children and deserve to experience all that retirement can give us here in TV. I'm so grateful and happy to be here - enjoying the fruits of our life labor with the man I love...

Four years ago, we offered to sell our home to our daughter and husband when we first moved here full time to TV (Referring back to my original post...she was very upset losing her childhood home to new buyers). They were upside down on their current home, at the time, and decided it wouldn't be a good idea even though we offered to help with not selling and renting it to them with hopes they could buy at a later date. Well, it's up for sale again. We let our daughter know and told her now would be a good time to buy since they are no longer upside down. She and her husband talked and decided against it. She has been given 2 opportunities to purchase her childhood home but it's not that important now and that makes me smile. Their visits here to TV have shown them what a wonderful place this is and they now understand why we moved, and they love it here themselves. They miss us not living closer and we miss not being able to have more time with them and the grandchildren yet time eases all pain. Our daughter flies down once a year, our grandsons fly down once a year and this year we are lucky to have the whole family in April...that makes twice this year! We also fly North when there's no snow...lol.