Are you glad you left your hometown?

[Katy Belle]

I grew up in a very small town in South Texas, and while I miss Tx I don't miss my home town. It was a small town filled with small minds. I only went back once since I graduated high school and it was like stepping back in time.

Well said. I'm very happy I moved away. I have grown soooo much by moving away!

Katy

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Yes and no. I love my hometown. It's a great place to raise kids and I'd love to raise mine there...but DH would never agree, and I doubt I could afford it anyways. Like others here, though, I don't understand the people who never moved away, or who moved back immediately after graduation. To me, they missed out on having a real life.

Here's the thing, there is something just...wrong...about my hometown. There used to be a sign on one of the two roads leading out of town. It was one of those double arrows pointing to the left and right, showing that those were the only ways you could continue. Some wit had put a sticker with the word 'REALITY' on it, and that was totally the truth. My hometown just doesn't feel real.

 

[LindaG4458]

Not sorry at all. There were too many relatives, too many people who knew me and my family and reported back every little thing. My mother always used the "what would people say about her" bit over anything I did. DH and I now live half time in the same state but far away. Sometimes even that is too close!

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Overall, yes, I'm glad I moved.
I like to go visit, I miss family and friends...but people my age don't have many options of good careers in the tiny town.
And, all the girls got **** jobs - I wanted one, but now don't wanna be labeled as "Oh, she musta grown up in 'insert home town here'... "

 

[Nik's Mom]

DH and I are definitely glad we moved from our home state of California. It's in really bad shape right now.

Don't get me wrong. There are things that we miss. I miss my job and friends, dh misses his family. We miss the ability to go to the beach or mountains, the weather, Disneyland, Lego Land, Long Beach Aquarium... But in the end, cost of living, education and way of life are much better here.

 

[Ephany]

Yes, every day. My siblings and I call it a big black hole that sucks you in and never lets you leave.

I miss the idea of where I grew up. You could play outside all day; there were lots of kids on my street and empty fields behind my house. No one locked their doors and everyone knew everyone else.

However, it is not like that anymore. I don't want to be like the people I went to high school with who rarely leave the county, let alone the state. And that everyone knowing everyone else is not so great when you're an adult and everyone knows your business.

 

[minkydog]

I left my hometown, Mobile(AL), and DH left Pensacola(FL) when we were 22 and never looked back. We have lived in Georgia most of the last 28 years, 400 miles away from family. Best thing we ever did. When we go home for visits we find the families are still having the same conversations, the same fights, the same gossip that they were having 30 years ago. They haven't gone anywhere or done anything or read anything since we left. We've outgrown them.

I like our life here in Georgia. We travel with our kids. We read voraciously. We listen to live music and camp in the woods. Our kids were born and raised here. They have no desire to move away permanently, but if they did I'd say "go for it! Get out there and find out who you are!"

We've been told that we are selfish for not living in Florida, that we're not taking care of the family(my mom is 100% behind us, however.) My answer to that is We are taking care of the family God entrusted us with. We like our life and we like ourselves better here than there. I think, had we stayed in our hometowns, that we might have become what our families became--stifled and dull.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

I've been in the same small town since birth, pretty much. I did go away to school and lived in antoher small community about 1 and 1/2 hours away for 2 years. We are happy here. My parents live here and my sister. We still travel and do all the things we want to. I don't think that just because you stayed at home will make your life stagnant.

 

[Uuaww]

I personally felt it was something that I had to do, but I can see myself moving back to the bay area from the Caribbean. I know St. Croix will not be my home forever but I am kinda afraid that if I don't figure out what I am going to do soon, that my hometown will change so much that I will lose any resemblance of a home to go back to.

 

[olena]

It broke my heart to leave, but I had no choice in the matter. There's no way I could go back, as it has deteriorated beyond recognition.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Totally! It is such an uppity snobville now. Everyone with a "me first" attitude. But that is only judging by their driving. Heheheheheheheee

But there were some great movies filmed there.

Mikeeee

 

[DMickey28]

I moved away 7 years ago and have enjoyed the experience. We have lived in various areas of the US in that time frame but are moving back in a few weeks. We are actually moving to my hometown for a few months and have talked about buying a house there. The main reason that I don't want to do that is just because I don't want to live where I went to HS and stuff.

We are hoping to buy a house the next state up and about 2-3 hours from my parents. Close enough but in a new area that we can make our "own" and settle down to raise our family.

 

[OK!]

I don't know if I'm happy that I left the area where I was born because I was 5 when it happened. I know I miss being able to drive an hour or so to the beach; that's for sure.

I still live now where we moved when I was 5, and I love it despite the lack of beach.

 

[Nie0214]

The only things I miss about RI are Hot Weiners and Del's Lemonade. Otherwise, I LOVE where I live now.

 

[Piglet4Ever]

I am super glad that I left. On one hand I miss my family, but whenever we go back to visit, I just find myself getting depressed. It feels like I have stepped through a time warp and everything is the same as it was 13 yrs ago when I moved away. We are going back for a visit this Aug for the first time in a couple yrs, we will see what it's like then. I love the fact that Dh and I have lived so many places since we have been married, the military is great for that. We are pretty sure we are going to retire where we live now and stay here permanently I wish all my family could move out here

 

[TinkerbEllnor]

I miss my hometown desperately. I would love to move back. But, it's not in the cards at the present time with the economy being as it is.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I grew up in one of the richest (and snobbiest) towns in NJ. I'm glad to be gone, but still live close - actually just got home from a great steak restaurant there - they have all known me since I was a baby...... its nice, but a little to close for comfort for me if you know what I mean.

 

[manning]

I wouldn't mind living near my family (currently on opposite coasts) but there really aren't any jobs in that town doing exactly the same work that I did (when I was working outside the home) or that DH does.

Also, DH and I have had a much larger breadth of cultural experience by living different places in the U.S. We have friends and family members (on both coasts) who've never really travelled much outside their local region and their views on some things seems much more insular that ours.

Are they happy??

 

[Plantlady]

Yes.

I needed to grow up on my own.

I moved away from small town Missouri when I was 17 to go to college.. to the big "city" (Not even 50,000 population). 3 hours from my parents.

I married, had kids, and moved to small town Kansas, 18 miles from the college town.

15 years later.. we're going back "home". We're moving back next month. Building a house, right down the hill from my parents. DH's parents are going to move to the area as well. The entire family.

While I don't *love* the town. I do love the family, and find that we are too far away. The kids need that "village" to raise them, and help form them into wonderful adults.


But, I wouldn't be the same, if I hadn't moved away, and grown into an adult first.

 

[DVC-Don]

No problems with moving away. In fact all my family has scattered all over the country and no one is left back at our hometown. I do go back maybe once a year to see old friends, but the town is sooo run down now. Most businesses have left and there is really no place left to work in the town (north central Massachuesetts), unless you want to work for the the town government (lots of layoffs) or a few convience stores. The roads are in awful shape and the local taxes are high. I don't miss Masschusetts AT ALL!