This may be the sweetest thread I've read in the last six months. I love it that you love your brothers like that!

Making these last couple of weeks last would be a great thing to do, certainly. But I think you perhaps need to give in to the emotion you're feeling and actually let yourself express that grief and sadness. Cry. Have brief periods where you simply give in to it and let some of that grief come out. Give yourself permission to have a few 15-minute pity parties. Seems to me part of why you're feeling so bad right now is that you're suppressing some of this sadness on at least a couple of cylinders and not allowing yourself to openly express it. I'm not suggesting you go into an absolute emotional decline. I'm simply suggesting you open the release valve and let some of it out so the build-up isn't so painful. The expression is going to be painful enough, but that's as it should be. This is a difficult change to make.

At the same time, do some talking to yourself to put things in perspective. You're not moving around the world or going off to a war-torn third-world country where communication will be impossible. You're going to be where there are phones and cameras and computers and where you're pursuing your future, as you'd hope they would do, too, under the same circumstances. You're leaving them behind in good hands with loving parents, it sounds like. Make sure you leave behind lots of pictures and video, if you have it, and other sorts of reminders of you and your time together with them. Take lots of the same sorts of thing with you. Tell them how much you love them and how much you'll miss them and reassure them that you'll still be in their lives and they in yours. Do a bunch of fun things and take a lot of pictures over the next two weeks. Figure out a way to get together in person at the earliest opportunity. Pre-arrange some times to play online games or get on the computer cam or have special phone conferences so there'll still be bonding/interacting opportunities once you're in Oregon. Send them emails and also lots of cards and letters. Kids love to get paper mail. Give them some cards and stamps so they can do the same with you. When my son was that age and I'd have to travel for work, I gave him a clock that I'd set to the time zone where I was going to be so he could see what time it was where I was, and it helped him feel more connected. That was always the first thing he'd want to talk about when I'd call home, too.

You're not dying. You're just moving on with your future. Sure, it's very sad to think about being away from them. But what would be even sadder would be to suppress what's going on and stay locked up in the anxious grief mode and miss out on the opportunities to make the most of these next couple of weeks. Feel your feelings. Let the boys feel theirs. Express your love. Make memories to leave behind and take along with you. And reassure yourself that this is a change that separates you for now but not a permanently severed connection.
birdgirl73 Reviewed by birdgirl73 on . A bit of help, if you will. (long) Hey all- I haven't been here in a while- how is everyone? So I'm moving to Oregon from Memphis,TN in about 19 days. This will be my first major move...I'm starting to feel it. I've lived here with my parents (that is to say that I live in the same city as my parents) my whole life. So now I'll be 2400 miles away from the 'rents and my adorable 10 year old twin brothers. I raised those boys when my parents were in the pits and they absolutely idolize me. I'm finding it increasingly harder to Rating: 5