@Neal McCready I listened to the pod with Siskey. I’m a big fan in regards to the football and real life stuff. As a MS boy that left for a 60% salary raise near the Canadian border, I can tell you that I have conflicted advice in regards to what you would have told your younger self. I’m 36 and have a 6 year old daughter. My wife has ruled out having any more children. It’s up to her how many we have, but I feel like if we didn’t move so far away from home, I might have more children and a closer extended family unit. My daughter knows her grandparents, but only sees them 1-2 times a year. Financially I will be much better off long term where I am now, but I feel like my family is missing out on time with grandparents, holidays etc. For instance, I’ve had to work the last 3 Thanksgivings, so I couldn’t travel to see family, just like you guys working the egg bowl. I don’t want my daughter to remember thanksgiving as the day she wishes her Dad didn’t have to go to work.
Anyway, no pity party here, I'm putting my head down and hoping to build a future for my family that I can pass on after I expire, but I look at the guy that was able to have a career and friends/family close to home and look at it with respect and admiration. As you said, maybe I can move back south one day. I’ve got another 2 years until my student loans are paid off, and I’ll have more options. To summarize, I think the headline “Man finds career and purpose near hometown” is nothing to regret or be ashamed of.