Moving or staying

Part of the recent talk by Hugh Mackay (Yes, I'm still mulling over it all) was to consider the factors that affect fragmentation in society. One of these was the fact that people are more mobile, not just in the way they are able to get about in cars etc. The statistic was that people move house on an average every 6 years.
I have sometimes pondered this. I have lived in 6 different locations in my life so far which means I haven't quite kept my end in that average. And I have read of many of my peers who moved every few years as their fathers were bank  managers or teachers or some other profession where the expectation was to keep moving.
We stayed in one place 16 years which was enough to be the growing up place for our children but we were not locals despite some family history in that area.
So I have wistfully looked at those who have lived in the same area all their lives and know all the connections and have seen each other's kids grow up and all that. We moved to our current location 12 years ago with no children to give us an entree to the community via school or sport. Thank goodness for the church where we immediately felt at home. But many of our even closest church friends would not be able to tell you the names of our children let alone the grandchildren. We line them all up and take a photo every year at Christmas and put it on the wall in the kitchen so we can show people. 'This is our tribe.' But it's not the same as having had them grow up in the community where we live. And I rather envy our friends whose children come home to visit  not just their parents but other friends on significant occasions. For our family it is not home at all.
On the other hand I value the different places we have lived and the input there has been from a variety of people and experiences. I've even caught myself wondering whether it's time to move on. This time we wouldn't even have work as an entree into a new setting. Too old for active sports. Perhaps I could get a little dog and take it to a dog walking park. (See previous blog.)