• I moved my family to Puerto Rico for work – we were excited about the warm weather and beaches.
• Once we moved, we had a hard time adjusting and felt a lot of difficulty. solitude being away from my family.
• We returned to Pennsylvania after a year. I wish we thought more about the move before we did it.

In 2015, the opportunity to move from Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico presented itself through a job offer with a medical technology company.

I had lived there when I was younger and my then-wife and two youngest daughters were excited to move to a new place. We fell in love with the idea of live on an islandhave warm weather all year round and be close to the beach.

So, I accepted the job and moved the first week of April. In June, my daughters finished their school year and the rest of my family joined me on the island.

My the company hired movers to pack and ship our belongings and my then wife’s vehicle. We were put up in a hotel because our belongings would take several weeks to arrive.

I could feel the tension within the family starting to build up in our new home

Although the hotel was spacious, it was nothing like the house we had just left. Pennsylvania.

My then-wife’s car hadn’t arrived yet and there was nothing within walking distance, so my family stayed at the hotel until I got “home” from work.

Towards the end of July our belongings arrived at our rental home located in a gated community in Cataño, but the car was still on the way.

While waiting for his arrival, we had to share my vehicle. She used to do all her shopping during the day, and now she had to wait for me to come home.. This caused a lot of tension and arguments.

Then, two days after moving into our new house, I turned on the kitchen faucet and the water wouldn’t come out. I asked my neighbor if he knew of any problems. He told me that the island was going through its difficult times. worst drought in decadesand water was rationed.

Every week we now had to make sure we stored enough water for cooking and bathing after the water was turned off. We had never experienced anything like this before and we were having a hard time adjusting.

This move also put a strain on our social life and had a huge impact on my youngest daughter.

We enrolled my youngest daughter in an online high school program because she didn’t speak Spanish, the primary language of Puerto Rico.

However, the physical isolation and having to do homework independently affected her grades and social life, causing her to cry on several occasions. She was close to her older sister, but was soon returning to the mainland to begin college.

Really, live in Puerto Rico was a lonely experience for all of us.

We had family within a short drive and were even able to visit some after a few hours of driving. Now our closest family members were at least a four-hour flight away.

Although I made connections at work with my colleagues and employees, they did not extend outside of work. All my close friends were back on the American continent.

We didn’t have much of a social life either. On weekends, I tried to combat loneliness and lack of social connection by exploring different parts of the island, but it didn’t last. Once Monday arrived, I went back to work.

After about a year of stress and tension, we returned to the United States

We stayed in Puerto Rico for about a year until my family and our business moved back to Pennsylvania. I stayed alone on the island for four months until I could find a new job.

Although we enjoyed our proximity to the beach and mountains and the warm climate of the island, I feel like we didn’t think through the whole move. We haven’t spent enough time thinking about the impact such a big change could have on our lives.

We’ve undermined the importance of community and the difficulty of adapting to a new place – especially one that I’m not sure we’ve researched enough about.

If I had to do it again, I would weigh the pros and cons of such an approach, do some research on current events in our destination, then make an informed decision rather than an emotional one.