Nearby Enough

Some readers of this blog may occasionally wonder to themselves, "jeez, for a family who doesn't have any family nearby they're sure nearby family pretty often." And I would happily respond, "yup". It's amazing how watching airfare like a hawk can result in semi-affordable quick trips here and there, and how just being willing to pick up and go makes it completely possible to raise a child in NY who knows just as much about his MN grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins as anyone else in their class who's family lives right next door. And then there's the magic of having family within driving distance. Sure there's an hour and a half between us, but that's a heck of a lot shorter than the distance between us and any other member of our family. And when the end result is hanging out with family on a random Saturday and watching Ash revel in the love that is Jess, well, that hour and a half pretty much disappears.

So that's the deal. We're lucky enough to have some family just nearby enough to be able to hang out on random weekends. And we're lucky enough that airplanes exist to connect the rest of our family, who, thanks to those airplanes are also just nearby enough. Nearby enough that Ash's grandma is taking over Ash duty in NY this weekend, and nearby enough that Ash will be spending a NY Thanksgiving with gamma and papa and aunt and uncle and cousin Jess. Nearby enough that more auntie fun will be had over New Years. Nearby enough.

Of course we still share those "holy crap if I just had a grandma to drop him off with for a moment" kind of moments, which we share with every other family out here it seems. But they're just moments, and life is working, and conveniently enough when family is just not quite so nearby enough we have friends who are. And life is working. But just to make myself clear, anyone out there with multiple sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and extended family who even dare so much as to squeak about not having adequate moments to yourself, well, to you I share my most prized electronic muzzle.

Nearby enough? 'Nough said.