I have often heard people say that they like having distance from family. Seems to be the main reason friends from here have moved to Boston. But for some reason that idea seems alien to me. Maybe because I am the child of a widow. Who moved back home after college and ended up becoming "the son who gets to take care of Mom someday" even before I ended up living two doors down from Mom again.

And I think it has take Batya a lot of effort to be used to not living near her parents.

OTOH, maybe we would see things differently if we had moved away for college. Or if we had difficult-to-cope-with parents.

And there is something to be said for being the right age and marital status of the community. That's something I can't say I ever got right for very long, even at Etz.