Originally Posted by KuroKuro

My mum tries to cry secretly every time that my parents drop me off at the airport to come back to Canada (3 times now), but it's fairly obvious to me that she doesn't like it. She's sad but she doesn't want me to feel guilty, I think. It was exactly the same as when my brothers & I left for universities away from home. I know that both of my parents would like it a lot if I still lived in the UK, but neither of them begrudge me moving away. I think I'm in about the same level of communication with my mum through calls & Facebook messages, and probably talk to my dad a bit more with regular emails. It's not really much different than when I lived 2 hours away when at university. My 2 brothers, I would only really see at Easter/Christmas, so I miss out on that a little bit. It does make me sad to think of my parents getting old without me there to spend quality time with them, but honestly, to a large degree the same would be true even if I lived in the UK, because I know I wouldn't be living out in the sticks like they do. Just the ease with which I could make an emergency trip to them has changed, but I'm conscious to keep savings in case that ever happens. Friends have kinda fallen by the wayside. We message every so often, and I still care about them dearly, but I know that our connectivity would be about the same if I still lived in the UK. Which of course is sad anyway, but I don't regret it as part of living abroad. Overall, I would say that I don't really feel guilty about my move at all, it's more a slight sadness of giving up on time with my parents that I won't be able to get back.