"It sounds so cliché, but when I hit 40, I went through a bit of a midlife crisis. Not the kind that involves fancy cars or affairs or plastic surgery. The kind where you suddenly realize your life is half over and you look around and ask, "Is this really what I want my life to look like? Or is this just where life has taken me?""
"At the time, my husband and I were both at crossroads in our careers. Our oldest son was upper elementary and we were thinking about where we wanted our kids to experience the difficult teenage years we had ahead of us. And my dad, who lived four hours away and had congestive heart failure, was declining. We started thinking about moving back to my hometown."
"We lived in a wonderful suburban area of the biggest city in North Carolina, with all the best amenities and opportunities life had to offer. We loved our neighborhood, our friends, our school. By many measurements, it was an idyllic place to live. But besides the tug to be close to my parents, there was also the possibility that where we would go might be even more idyllic."
At 40, a parent re-evaluated life priorities and questioned where the family should live. Career crossroads for both spouses and an eldest son entering upper elementary prompted concern about where to raise teenagers. An aging father with congestive heart failure four hours away created a pull to be closer. The parents owned a small cabin on a lake about 20 minutes outside the hometown where the children had roots. The couple planned to renovate the cabin to live there full time to give the children more outdoor time and be near family. Seven years later the children are thriving and the move proved one of the best decisions.
Read at Business Insider
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