Do you think you’ll ever try living in another country?

This topic interests me at the moment as my husband is a recently qualified teacher (completing the postgrad in 2009) yet has no permanent teaching position so we have considered moving for him to secure a permanent job and may have to consider this in the future if his situation doesn’t change.

I do firmly believe that we work to live, we don’t live to work, and there are other factors which are far more important to me than my job.  Don’t get me wrong, my ability to work and contribute financially to my family’s wellbeing is extremely important to me but I could do this working in the local supermarket; I don’t feel any tie to living where I am on account of my employment.  Having had our children fairly young (I was 26 and hubby 27), we haven’t reached a lifestyle which could be difficult to maintain and place financial pressures on us and I think having children has cemented my belief that there really is more to life than money.

Since having my first child in November 2009, my relationship with my own parents has taken on a different meaning.  My respect for them has multiplied – I am a twin and one of four children.  Not so unusual then but viewed as being a large family nowadays and I now have a better understanding of how hard my parents worked to raise our family.  My parents have eleven grandchildren and maintain close relationships with them all.  I couldn’t deprive them of this by moving my children more than a short car journey from them.  From a selfish point of view, my mum is my best friend and I would miss her terribly if I wasn’t able to see her regularly.  My family is my biggest tie to home and I’d like my children to grow up around and be close to their cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.

So family dictates that we’ll never try living in another country as we’d be leaving too much behind.