Guilt about family left behind?

DianneOK wrote:
I will tell you why we fulltimed....we retired early, 54....we were the only ones out of 7 siblings who could be available if we were needed. Everyone was scattered all over the country. So we sold everything, traveled and in between we cared for parents. It worked well,( even tho we were chastised when we were 3000 miles away, and would not instantly hop on a flight and tend to a parent who had a "SPELL" of imaginary crisis....)

We were able to tend a parent dying of mesothelioma, another of pancreatic cancer.
It worked for us.....

I am glad it worked ok for you, even with the issues.
I have 3 siblings, 3 of us are within 6 min drive to my parents home the 4th is 25 minutes away. They retired 6-7 years ago, they always traveled and now are snow birds. When I was laid off we spent much of our free time with them. I think their retirement and my layoff actually contributed to my current feelings, I am jealous of their freedom! If anything happened with them I think two of my siblings could be depended on for additional support.
My husband is one of two, his sibling is across country, his father passed away years ago. As far as additional support that would be given financially, but visits would be what I would call "stabilizing". Come for the crisis, then leave. And in my opinion there is nothing wrong with that! That is basically what I want to do. His mom and her sisters are very close, so she would not be alone, but she would say she is, she already does. She would not support us leaving at all.