Dear Prudie,
I am a married woman in my early 40s with young children whose longtime, local job in New England is being transitioned to the corporate office in the Midwest. My husband works for the same company and has a job offer there and we’ve decided to relocate. The company is compensating us generously. The issue is that my mother, who’s in her late 60s, is having a very difficult time accepting our decision. She insists that I stay, even though she knows it would put my family at financial risk since I would no longer have a job. She is giving me guilt trips laden with mentions of emotional abandonment, threats that she’d “rather not be alive” if I go, and accusations of putting greed before family. We have asked her to move with us, and she refuses. We have told her we can bring her out for weeks at a time to stay with us, which she also refuses because she said she won’t drive such long distances and doesn’t like to fly. I understand her sadness, but I’m becoming angry and resentful that she thinks it is a viable answer to put my family in financial peril for her. Please help.