Delaware's southern counties feed state's growth

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by longnecker

Unfortunately there are no good jobs to hold OUR young people here.

I know, Longnecker. Ours leave, don't they?

[DelawareLiz]

Almost all of my good friends (and close family) left Sussex years ago, typically due to the lack of job opportunities. My closest friend lives in Salisbury, MD .

[Caladium]

Has it been hard to make new friends with the people moving in? Also, what work did people use to do in Sussex before they left? Are the new people moving in seen as a welcome turn of events--or as something to resent? (Or, maybe a little of both?)

[DelawareLiz]

Well...where I live, it is mostly retirees. They are very friendly towards me and vice versa. Many of my friends left right after high school; they went away to college and never came back. Others attended college here, saw there were no jobs upon graduation, and left.

I had planned on moving away after college graduation as well since I wanted to work in the parks/forestry service. Jobs are few and far between here in that field for me, and most are upstate (no way--not moving back there!!). Life happened and I did not move.

I live in a transient area so I have just accepted that newcomers are a fact of life. Heck, I cannot blame them for moving here. It is very difficult to make friends for people in my age bracket (35-45) once your high school and college friends have moved away. Many people in their 30's (even 40's) at the beach area have very young children and are at a different place in life than we are. I do not know how to explain this without coming off wrong so I'll just leave it at that. I will say that if you are 50-over, then you will not have trouble finding people good, quality people to befriend in your age bracket who have the same interests and moved here from out-of-state as well. Some of the nicest people at the beaches are in the 50-over age bracket.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by beachliz

It is very difficult to make friends for people in my age bracket (35-45) once your high school and college friends have moved away. Many people in their 30's (even 40's) at the beach area have very young children and are at a different place in life than we are. I do not know how to explain this without coming off wrong so I'll just leave it at that. I will say that if you are 50-over, then you will not have trouble finding people good, quality people to befriend in your age bracket who have the same interests and moved here from out-of-state as well. Some of the nicest people at the beaches are in the 50-over age bracket.

I totally understand about how hard it can be to make friends when most of the people aren't your age, and those who are in your age have kids in a very different age group. The same thing has happened to me, even in a much more densely populated area. It's one big reason I spend time on city-data.

[James420]

Originally Posted by beachliz

Well...where I live, it is mostly retirees. They are very friendly towards me and vice versa. Many of my friends left right after high school; they went away to college and never came back. Others attended college here, saw there were no jobs upon graduation, and left.

I had planned on moving away after college graduation as well since I wanted to work in the parks/forestry service. Jobs are few and far between here in that field for me, and most are upstate (no way--not moving back there!!). Life happened and I did not move.

I live in a transient area so I have just accepted that newcomers are a fact of life. Heck, I cannot blame them for moving here. It is very difficult to make friends for people in my age bracket (35-45) once your high school and college friends have moved away. Many people in their 30's (even 40's) at the beach area have very young children and are at a different place in life than we are. I do not know how to explain this without coming off wrong so I'll just leave it at that. I will say that if you are 50-over, then you will not have trouble finding people good, quality people to befriend in your age bracket who have the same interests and moved here from out-of-state as well. Some of the nicest people at the beaches are in the 50-over age bracket.

Northern Delaware is the same way, we were the youngest parents on our little league team and we're 38 and 40. Northern Delaware especially in this area is older residents, its hard to find developments full of kids anymore. Most of our friends left for Middletown DE, PA, and New Jersey for the schools.

[DelawareLiz]

Thanks you two for chiming in...not happy you are going through the same deal, but at least it isn't just me.

I do enjoy living around an older population...just because I do. My good friends have all moved away and I'm kind of stuck with "what's left" in my age bracket--and many of them are very clique-ish if they have been here all their lives (as my husband and I have). Basically, if you weren't friends with them when you were younger, then that's that. Like I said, my good friends moved away and the ones left that I still talk to just are at a different place in life, or they just didn't do much with their lives in general. I like to be able to hang out with friends and not hear that they are too broke, down and out, their kids won't behave in public, etc. My son is almost 16 and we'll be empty nesters in a few years--before age 40. Very unique situation.

James--my sister lives in Holiday Hills and there are many families with young children--not sure how far you are from that location. Very nice neighborhood and she raves about it all the time; she has many friends there. But, she does agree that Holiday Hills is one of the few places with nice, younger children/families in the Brandywine Hundred within their price range. Lots of 50+ people live in many Brandywine Hundred developments, for sure.