Help a Midwest Momma!
Hi! Mom of three under 6 and currently live and work in my hometown in a suburb of Chicago. Got a job in Bozeman Montana where my parents currently live. My sister and sister in law are in Idaho and Colorado respectively. Everyone loves it out West. We would be able to have a close to paid off house in Bozeman and financially could make it work. I have an offer for a dream job that doesn’t pay as well as in Illinois and my husband is in between jobs. I have dreamed of living there for years.
When is comes down to making the choice of moving, I’m struggling. The biggest apprehension is my kids identities. At my current location since I’ve lived here for 30 years, I know the general path and current offerings and have a rough idea of their path through the school systems. There is great uncertainty moving for me (because I’ve never moved) and want this to be a benefit for my children. I find it so weird that out west, if you’re on a sports team, you travel hours and hours to play another team- I don’t like that frankly but understand everything is spread out. I want them to have a team sports experience but I’m unsettled that a move like this will play a big part of their identity and I don’t know how that will look.
Tl;dr: thinking about moving but apprehensive because of the uncertainty of child future identities and sports culture out west