My brother is leaving for Oregon...I am sad

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My brother has been married for several years. He and his wife lived with my family while she went to nursing school. Their goal was for her to become a “travel” nurse, getting paid great money to do 13 week stints at various places across the country.

Well they are leaving for their first assignment tomorrow morning. It is in Oregon, and we live in Virginia.

I am so sad. I know it is selfish. I am also happy for them. Ok that is a lie. I wish they would stay.

I am sure they won’t move back. They will find a place they like and they will settle down.

I will barely know their kids and they will barely know me. My youngest son, who is 3, will barely remember him. There is so much I feel like we will miss out on.

I am also aware I sound like a blubbering pussy. I am crying as I type this, and I know it is somewhat irrational.

See my family is fucked up. Drama is the name of the game, and I know to some degree he is leaving all of that behind. I have had ongoing disputes with both of my parents and I vented to him over the years. He doesn’t want that BS in his family, so he is leaving. He can now visit and distance himself from the petty BS we have perpetuatedd. And much of it is my fault.

My brother and I get along great. I have been there for him, and he has been there for me through difficult times. I love him so much.

Part of my hangup is that we have a brother between us that died. I feel like I am losing my only brother.

I want to be happy for him. I just can’t find it in myself right now. I am just too sad.

I always knew I could call him and we could go do something. Get a beer, go to a concert only he and I would like.

I have got to cut this out. I am just making it worse.

I also realize I am making too much of this.

2

I know exactly how you feel, newcrasher. When my sister announced she and her husband were moving from Lexington, KY, to Las Vegas, I was crushed. She’s been out there about three years now, and we’ve gone from seeing each other every other month to once or twice a year. It sucks.

We e-mail and talk on the phone regularly (often in a three-way call that includes my other sister), but it is not the same. :frowning:

3

I kind of understand. I’ve mostly lived halfway or more across the country from my baby brother for some years now (he may be 23 but he’s still my baby brother!) and it sucks. We get along well, and I haven’t seen him in over a year and a half. I’m happy to have missed the worst of the teenage years with him, but I wish he lived closer to me now.

That being said, our family tends to spread out, so it’s not like it’s unusual for us to have people a long way apart, but it still kinda sucks. Maybe once he gets out of the AF…or maybe not, since he’s a professional computer geek and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in the Seattle area with a cousin of ours who also is!

4

Once your brother and his family settle down somewhere (Oregon or elsewhere), could you move near them? Would it perhaps help you to get out of VA as well?

5

But isn’t it just for three months? I was a traveler for years. I always went home. The travel company pays for the trip home too.

6

Just left him. Said goodbye.

It’ll be ok.

Different.

But ok.

I have abandonment issues.

7

A friend of mine is a Travel Nurse. She and her husband decide where they want to go next, and then they go. i guess she gets paid pretty well. He picks up temp work. When they’ve saved enough money they take off for a month. Or two. Or six. Fiji, Southeast Asia, Australia, Russia, South America… They love it.

The thing is that as much as they move around they still have time for her sister and niece and his brother and their friends. That seems to be the great thing about travel nursing: one can live in different places; some of them close to family.