Why do you live where you do?

[leebee]

We live just outside of Bangor, ME. We moved here for DH's job. He had several options, most of which paid better than the original one here BUT my family is all in southern Maine or outside of Boston, and most of DH's family was, at the time, in Ohio. Staying in the northeast was the preferable option. I think it was a good idea, even if DH's funding ran out, he's had to change jobs (but in the area) several times, and my employment opportunities became limited also, because it was a great place to raise DD. We can drive to my family in 3-4 hours, so DD grew up finally knowing her grandmother, great-aunts, and of course aunts, uncles, and cousins on my side of the family. It's a bit of a trip to see DH's family (OH and IN), but it's a better option than being on the west coast, desert southwest, or Deep South (other options at the time). Now that DD is married and moved to CT, DH and I are starting to re-think. Retirement won't be for awhile (he's 59, I'm 63), but we are considering where to go next. Our house is too big for 2 of us, so we are considering selling and buying something smaller in the same town BUT... might just wait. DH is talking about finding a headhunter and testing out the waters for a job in industry. We'll probably stay in the northeast, but we'd like to be closer to Boston, or even Portland, ME. We'll see.

 

[RamblingMad]

It makes me happy. I won’t move even if offered more money.

 

[soccerdad72]

Moved here to go to college (undergrad) and met my future wife. We both got jobs in the area and just never moved. Once our kids are out of college, we'll probably move somewhere to retire, although that might partially depend on where our kids land after college.

 

[CoffeeKitten]

DH and I have lived in three different states. We found the most important thing isn't where you live but being around friends and family. So now we are back in our home state. I love it! Low cost of living, hot summers and cold winters. Maybe when DH retires we will become snowbirds. But for now we love being close to family especially because our parents are elderly.

 

[DisneyKoyote]

Live in NYC-It's a love hate relationship. I love it bc my friends are here, my parents are nearby in NJ, finance jobs abundant with great salaries, tons of things to do, some of the best food here. However I would never want to raise kids in the city, its harder to have a dog due to small living spaces, and buying an apartment here is crazy exp (I was looking at studio apartment for $900k-$1.2M- obviously did not purchase anything). Not to mention stress levels are always high at work with late hours.
It's hard because while we want to move, going anywhere suburban would force us to partially give up our careers and we don't want to do that either.

 

[okeydokey]

I live in Florida. We are here because my husband got his graduate degree from a Southern University and then this is where the jobs in his field were. I would not have chosen to live in the South otherwise and In fact, would love to live in the Northeast again. Maybe after retirement we can get back home.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I’m not leaving Louisiana.

 

[disney junky]

The cost of living is decent. Jobs are good. Near enough to large cities that day trips are possible. Near enough to small cities that there is plenty of stuff to do. Great schools. Good people. Honest. Hard working. Good neighbors. A great garage for my car fixes. Cheap golf.

 

[KMarston]

We stayed in the town that we grew up in so that our kids would be near grandparents. Now as much as we’d love to move an hour away I am responsible for my dad and I help with my DGS. My sisters headed out right after college so I’m the only one left here to take care of my sweet dad. His wife has Alzheimer’s but if she passes before him he’d have no problem moving with us.

 

[DisneyOma]

It is comforting in many ways, but I have also been told it was creepy too. Of course that is after I tell them that right next to my farm is the family cemetery of which I am the president of. It is where my wife and I will be buried. All five generations of Texans in the family are buried there. First burial was in 1838. My farm was part of 180 acres the Republic of Texas gave my 3rd Great Grandfather for his service to the Republic since they had no money, but plenty of land. He served at San Jacinto and for six months after in 1836. Roots run about as deep as they can given when this part of the world was settled.

"Settled"? - but weren't there already people living there?

 

[disykat]

I came to this area for college and liked it, so I stayed in the region. I live about 45 minutes away from where I went to college. DH came here for a job and we met through hometown connections. It makes going "home" to visit family easier since they're in the same place! I've lived here way longer than my "hometown" now and THIS is where I'm planted, despite having a few roots elsewhere.

We plan to stay here until if/when we can't live in our home anymore. At that point, we'd move near our kids to make things easier for them. We live here because we love it here and it's where we've made our life. We have friends, places we're involved, a home, and live in a fabulous area with trees, mountains, water, etc.

 

[wilbret]

We moved here for a job almost 12 years ago. We specifically moved into our house to get into a great area for schools.
Biggest downside is we have no family here, raising 3 kids without "free" babysitting like most people we know have kinda sucks.
We've had the opportunity to relocate, even to Orlando area, but I get cold feet when it comes to uprooting our kids from the only place they've ever known.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We live just outside Chicago, in Evanston. I’ve never lived outside of Illinois. I grew up in central Illinois and my husband grew up in Chicago. We have a disabled adult daughter who has always lived in our town and we would never want her to move out of her comfort zone so we will never leave. Plus the rest of our family is in the area.

 

[Valbot]

I'm only in IL because of my job. I'm desperate to get out of this state but no luck so far with finding a job out of state that has somewhat similar pay.
So I'm really stuck because of work and it's a job I can't even stand

 

[luvsJack]

It is comforting in many ways, but I have also been told it was creepy too. Of course that is after I tell them that right next to my farm is the family cemetery of which I am the president of. It is where my wife and I will be buried. All five generations of Texans in the family are buried there. First burial was in 1838. My farm was part of 180 acres the Republic of Texas gave my 3rd Great Grandfather for his service to the Republic since they had no money, but plenty of land. He served at San Jacinto and for six months after in 1836. Roots run about as deep as they can given when this part of the world was settled.

Dh’s family has a family cemetery on mil’s land. It is fairly new and only has three graves (thank the good Lord since it’s less than 10 years old) but it will stay in that huge family for many
,many years. Mil finds it comforting that she can see it from her back porch.

My brother is buried with his wife in her family’s cemetery. The land is no longer in the family but the cemetery is very old and the land owners help keep it up and take care of the grounds. What is left of sil’s family is so scattered that no one is here to do a lot of the care-taking. Me, dsis and sil’s sister do help with it.

 

[John VN]

Jobs, family, location, weather.......or other situations?........................

Kids schooling choices were not too acceptable and we liked where we vacationed previous years, very quiet - not extremely develoved - schooling was fine -- so the house went up for sale -- SOLD --packed up and moved to SW FL in 1986 without a job. Have never regretted it and both kids are now in a far better place than we were at our moving time.

 

[tex1989]

"Settled"? - but weren't there already people living there?

There were people in some areas of Texas at the time, as the Mexican government had granted certain "Empresarios" the most famous of which was Stephen F Austin the right to bring new Anglo settlers into Texas. In the 1820's Austin brought what is refereed to as the "Old 300" which were the first new settlers and they lived in the Richmond Rosenburg area SW of present day Houston. Prior to that the Spanish and French had explored areas of Texas but stayed mostly along the coast and in the South. San Antonio de Bexar had been established as a mission for some time. After Mexico broke away from Spanish rule and formed the new constitution of 1823 they sought Anglo settlers for Texas. Their hope quite frankly was to establish a buffer zone between the Comanche War parties to the north and their holdings in the south. My ancestors were part of a group brought into Texas in 1834 by Sterling Clack Robertson and the family land and cemetery is actually in Robertson County Texas. 10 acres I own are actually in Brazos county to the south which is the home of Texas A&M University.

The area my family settled had no one within 75 to 80 miles of them and had never seen a plow or any inhabitants other than Indians. So they put down roots in a river bottom along the Little Brazos River and the rest as they say is history. So were they the first, no, but when they arrived there was no others and no town, no roads, nothing but open land. Historians refer to the Robertson group as settlers, so I do as well, your definition may vary.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My elderly parents live here, my wife's youngest sister's family lives here, I work here, my wife works here, my daughter works here, and our son goes to college in this state. Plus also I really love the area. We get four seasons and everything. Halfway between Philadelphia and New York City.

If it weren't for my parents we could move somewhere else that's part of the NASDTEC, but I don't know why'd we bother.

 

[DisneyOma]

removed - it was just going to cause an argument.

 

[Wishing on a star]

My husband is not from this region, but he moved here when he got out of college, as his parents would be retiring here to get away from the cold winter weather. He never has and never will want to go back to that region.

My family has been here in the South for a few generations anyway.
A lot of what is called Southern Pride around here.

We now live exactly where we do because of DH's work.
But he is mostly retired! So we could move, but that doesn't seem to be working out yet.
If we do, we will probably move back to the area that I was raised.

I really don't see anywhere else outside of this region where we would ever want to move.
At one point we thought about retiring down to our favorite beach. But that is now overdevelopod, overpriced, and over-everything!

PS: How could why you live where you live cause an argument. Everything does not have to be(come) an argument. Every lthing does not have to be division and hate. But that seems to be the current thing here on the board.