If this was you last day on Earth, would you have done anything differently?
What a morbid question!
For us who have forged an existence far from our country of birth, chance is that we are far away from loved ones as well. Many expats find that as much as they enjoy their lives abroad, when their parents reach a certain age or get sick, they plan their next phase of life closer to their parents. This particularly applies to people who don't have siblings to share the tasks. Others budget with more trips back. Some bring their parents closer, moving them to the new country. (Remember the grandmother setting of sprinklers in "My Big, Fat, Greek wedding"?)
Expats who have happily lived abroad for many years may also question if living abroad was the right choice, once they themselves reach an advanced age. Would it have been nicer to grow old closer to ones siblings? If memory is going, perhaps the memories left are from a time lived far away in the old country. Nobody around knows what you are talking about. Perhaps less keeps you in a new country after the kids have decided to move abroad! It does happen, you know.
According to the late psychologist Erik Erikson's stage model, our last stage in life is finding peace with the life we have lived - what he calls Integrity - vs having too many things we wish we had done differently but can't now make undone: a feeling of despair. (This blog has in earlier posts described the previous stages: Trust, Shame, Guilt, Inferiority, Identity, Intimacy, and Mentoring.)
We have probably all known older relatives or friends who represented either outcome; it is not always easy to predict who will end where.
My last two trips back to the old country have been to assist my elderly parents move from their home of a lifetime into a smaller, more convenient, location. Such situations raise the question if moving abroad was unnecessarily selfish. It helps knowing that my family for at least the last four generations have had members traveling the world; I am not the only odd one. And it helps to have siblings. Thank you, sis.
While I was in the air on my way home to the US, Malaysia 370 to China disappeared. It brings home that you never know when you will see your distant family members again.
Oh! That is the unlikely but very visible risk. Statistically, driving is way more risky than flying and we still do that every day. Still, such accidents, civil unrest, natural disasters - if the world is your playground, something happening in a far place may be close to people you know and hold dear. Just to play it the safe, make a habit of expressing you appreciation to loved ones near and far. It may change if they feel despair or joy - and it may change your day, too.
Wherever you reside, may you have many more days ahead of you - lived with integrity.