What did your friends, family, acquaintances say when you told them you were moving to Austin? (Houston: credit, house)

[neddy]

They all asked me what took you so long?...most of my family lives in the Austin area and I settled in San Antonio quite a few years ago since my dad and his side of the family was over there. Dad moved we were offered a job here so here we are now. Still don't see the relatives anymore than before though and now all my SA friends come here to go fishing...

[jco]

I got a few of the Texas stereotypes. My friends all love Austin, so they were very happy and jealous of us! My family made fun of us, and kept saying we'll come back in cowboy hats saying "y'all". Most all of them thought Texas is desert, so they couldn't figure out why we'd go from desert to desert.

[looking for warmth]

Originally Posted by Texanwannabe

Don't worry, they'll come around eventually. My sister was irrate when I first told her I was moving to TX. It has been almost a year since I sprung it on her and she is coming around now, but she keeps telling me how homesick I am going to be when I move this Summer. I've been through all the guilt trips from her...telling me I can't move because of our mom being in a nursing home and I'm POA and the nurse in the family and what if something happens...blah, blah, blah. She even had my Mom asking me not to move--talk about a guilt trip there. Well, my mom passed away in Jan, so the move is going forward now and my sister can't use my mom on me now.

Thats so crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sister says the exact same thing to me....heheh

But I hope that my sister will turn around. I have to admit she is a lot better then my mom, my mother has been the worst... and I have this feeling if I do it, she will disown me....? (though ....that could be a good thing my mom has NEVER been for me doing anything, example: going to collage, getting married, having kids, building a new home.... the list goes on, so her reaction isn't really a surprise to me)
I'm very sorry to hear about your mom... Sounds to me, maybe shes the one afraid of being alone??
I really think that's what my family thinks sometimes, they know I love going on vacations every year to get out of this god awful state, and if I move I may really be happy and won't ever come back....
I keep telling my sister, think about it, you can come see me in Janurary and it will be WARM!

[annie_annie]

I may be the only one that feels this way but in all honesty I'm kind of encouraged by all the narrow minded Texas stereotypes. I'm hoping that people from other states will assume that Texas is so awful they won't want to move here. It's getting too crowded as it is.

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Originally Posted by looking for warmth

Thats so crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sister says the exact same thing to me....heheh

But I hope that my sister will turn around. I have to admit she is a lot better then my mom, my mother has been the worst... and I have this feeling if I do it, she will disown me....? (though ....that could be a good thing my mom has NEVER been for me doing anything, example: going to collage, getting married, having kids, building a new home.... the list goes on, so her reaction isn't really a surprise to me)
I'm very sorry to hear about your mom... Sounds to me, maybe shes the one afraid of being alone??
I really think that's what my family thinks sometimes, they know I love going on vacations every year to get out of this god awful state, and if I move I may really be happy and won't ever come back....
I keep telling my sister, think about it, you can come see me in Janurary and it will be WARM!

Thank you. I do think my sister is afraid of being alone. Her kids have left the nest and her husband works alot of OT and she is alone. We talk every few days on the phone, so I am sure that won't change. The only thing that will change is visiting her, but I only visit her now every other month. We live 1 hr apart from one another. She said she will never visit me in TX...oh well...I'm not changing my mind about my move! All my other family members are very supportive of my move and plan to visit!

[twange]

Well, let's put it this way: We moved here in Sept. 07' and we've had visitors(family and friends) almost every month. Hosting can be tiring and expensive! All of our friends and family are curious about the place, since we never talked about moving here, until we actually decided due to a career opportunity. We weren't the kind of folks that had Austin on our "radar" as a new and trendy place to live. We seemed to have missed all of the "coolest places to live" lists from magazines and websites. I guess we just don't read things like that. We visited family here a few years ago and that was all. The universe just brought us here and as the situation evolved, we just opened up to it.

We got some of the Texas stereo-type comments from a few people(flat and dusty, socially backwards, overweight, politically inbred and obstinate, religious fundamentalism etc...). But mostly everyone was really, really supportive and maybe a bit jealous of the opportunity to be "born again" into a totally new experience.

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Originally Posted by twange

Well, let's put it this way: We moved here in Sept. 07' and we've had visitors(family and friends) almost every month. Hosting can be tiring and expensive!

I'm worried about this happening to me as well. Everyone wants to visit me and I have been encouraging visits because I'm afraid of being lonely and homesick the first year away from Pittsburgh. But then again, too many visits might get old after awhile and I will be begging for peace and quiet!!

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by looking for warmth

OH WOW what an awsome thread!!!! I've been wanting to talk about this for so long! My family has been the worst....my mother is so against me even TALKING about moving away from her and (she says) If I take her grandkids away from her, it will kill her, she actually hung up on me the other day when I was complaining about our weather and I told her, hey ya wanna know how warm TX is?, she said NOPE and hung up on me...hahahah ...Then my sister throws on the guilt of my nephews never knowing there auntie.
I'm so sad here but I love my family and I will miss them so much, so my heart breaks!... My dad I guess understands why I want to move, he's a Snowbird so he gets it. But no one else does. Sighhh it sucks, it makes it so hard,...So how did you guys all do it when family gave you grief and how fast did you guys make new friends when you moved??

Tell them to get a life of their own, and stop holding you back

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by twange

We got some of the Texas stereo-type comments from a few people(flat and dusty, socially backwards, overweight, politically inbred and obstinate, religious fundamentalism etc...). But mostly everyone was really, really supportive and maybe a bit jealous of the opportunity to be "born again" into a totally new experience.

You find more of those in the mid-west and on the right coast!! Those folks who mention those stereo types probably fit them themselves!

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by twange

Well, let's put it this way: We moved here in Sept. 07' and we've had visitors(family and friends) almost every month. Hosting can be tiring and expensive! All of our friends and family are curious about the place, since we never talked about moving here, until we actually decided due to a career opportunity. We weren't the kind of folks that had Austin on our "radar" as a new and trendy place to live. We seemed to have missed all of the "coolest places to live" lists from magazines and websites. I guess we just don't read things like that. We visited family here a few years ago and that was all. The universe just brought us here and as the situation evolved, we just opened up to it.

We got some of the Texas stereo-type comments from a few people(flat and dusty, socially backwards, overweight, politically inbred and obstinate, religious fundamentalism etc...). But mostly everyone was really, really supportive and maybe a bit jealous of the opportunity to be "born again" into a totally new experience.

Sometimes I read posts from relocatees and wonder how awful their former lives were before they moved to Austin. You would swear they were in this godforsaken place, that either had poor weather, didn't appreciate them, was very boring, had a horrible job market, what have you. Then they get an epiphany of sorts, and realize that Austin is the place to fill in all those holes and emptiness, for what I suppose will be the rest of their lifetimes. And its the same, regardless of where they are from, the midwest, west coast, east coast, you name it. My question is, are the places they came from that bad?They spent many years in these places before they made the move to Austin. Were they hellish, a purgatory-like state, as if God was just prepping them for a future higher state in Austin? Is Austin really that much better than all these cities the relocatees are coming from? If so, why is this such a new thing? I mean, up to perhaps 8 years ago, I never heard a thing about Austin in the national press. Now, you would think that Austin is the pinnacle of city living. Again, if it is that great, why are we just hearing it? Did the city just make that leap into this incredible city overnight? Was it just hyped to death, simply a great selling job? Are we simply pulling the wool over all these relocatees eyes, selling them a phantasm in their minds that will never live up to those expectations? It seems like the vast majority of people raving on here about Austin have only been here a short time.....I really wonder what some of the long time residents that post on here, if any, think of Austin, and the growth. It seems that all the long-timers like THL and Austinsteve are real estate agents, so its hard to find a non-agent long-timer, who would have a true perspective on Austin past the honeymoon stage, with a full knowledge of what the city is all about and where it is going....any of them out there that don't sell real estate?