Will You Miss Your Family If You Move to L.A. for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?

Chau-Ram Park, (via turbojoe/Flickr), Leave Family to Become a Child Actor?

My two kids and I just returned from a two-week trip to South Carolina to visit our family.  We travel to South Carolina twice each year to visit family ever since we moved to L.A. for our daughter to become a child actor.

The thing I’ve struggled with most after moving to L.A. for my daughter to become a child actor was leaving all our family behind.

I know people leave their families all the time, but I’ve always been close to my family and spent a lot of time with them. And I really miss that.

And my kids really miss doing things with our relatives.

While we were in SC visiting, we did all sorts of things with family. We went on boat rides, went swimming in the lake, and went tubing on the Chauga River.  We went blueberry picking at a nearby blueberry farm.  We went to a cousin’s birthday party, too. And we just hung out with family–watching tv, playing video games or other games, and just talking.

We spent a lot of our time visiting my mother who is not in the greatest health. She misses having us around.  We try to cram a year’s worth of visits with her into the 3 or 4 weeks we are in the area each year. She hates it most of all that we moved so far away.

For us, being far away has meant that we’ve missed weddings, funerals, birthdays, family reunions, holidays, and many other events.

Sure, we have friends in L.A. But friends, no matter how good they are, typically come and go.  With family it is different — at least for us it is.

At times, I really just want to drop everything, and just take off to return to the Southeast.

If you are considering moving to L.A. or New York for your child to become a child actor, have you considered how you’ll feel when your family is so far away?

How much will you miss your family if you move to L.A. or New York for your child to become a child actor?

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What Can You Learn from the Michael Jackson Life Story?

Wikipedia, Michael Jackson Life Story

Someone put a comment on my blog asking if I was going to post about Michael Jackson’s death. I hadn’t planned to, but my husband and I just watched a show about the Michael Jackson life story with an in-depth interview of Michael Jackson.

As I watched Michael Jackson being interviewed about his early life and the Jackson 5, I thought about how so much fame at an early age must have affected his life.  The more I listened to the Michael Jackson life story, the sadder I felt about all the tragedy and difficulties in his life, and his premature death.

Born in 1958, Michael was only 6 or 7 when he started performing with the Jackson Five.  They released their first single, “Big Boy,” in January 1968 when he was only 9. This little-known single was released under the label Steeltown Records before the Jackson 5 signed with Motown.

For those who have not heard it, I found “Big Boy” on YouTube. I have included it here for you to hear — not a big hit, but a good song.

(Sorry, I had a link to “Big Boy” on YouTube but had to remove it since the video was removed from YouTube for incorrect usage.)

Not too long after that came the release of their first number one hit song, “I Want You Back,” in 1969, when Michael was 10. Three more number one hit singles soon followed:   “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There.”

Michael was instantly put into the limelight as the whole world witnessed his amazing talent in singing, dancing, and performing. I know I was in awe as I watched him perform.

Of course, many other hits came after that, including one of my favorites,”Thriller,” with the great music video that I still enjoy watching.

What can you learn from the Michael Jackson life story?

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