Homesick for Knoxville, now living in Florida (Petersburg: transplants, wages)

[TN Gal now]

on your trip and potential move. I was born in FL and lived there until I moved to TN. There is a huge cultural difference as well as many others. I understand and sympathize with how difficult it must be for you.

TN will welcome you back with open arms : )

[Cheryl A. Koski]

A friend of mine here in St. Petersburg has suggested that my continued interest in moving back to Knoxville is somehow irrational and obsessive. Any comments?

Cheryl

[Cheryl A. Koski]

Originally Posted by TN Gal now

on your trip and potential move. I was born in FL and lived there until I moved to TN. There is a huge cultural difference as well as many others. I understand and sympathize with how difficult it must be for you.

TN will welcome you back with open arms : )

Thank you so much, TN girl now. I can tell that you understand the vast differences between Florida and Tennessee. It's nice to hear from someone who understands.

Do you have any more details about how you made the Great Escape from Florida?

Cheryl

[TN Gal now]

details of how I made the move to TN, but will share that my first vist here was with a church youth group to a conference Kingsport, then on to Milligan College in Johnson City. I was fourteen at that time. I didn't get to move here until I was 31.

You'll find your way back. Keep the faith.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Cheryl A. Koski

A friend of mine here in St. Petersburg has suggested that my continued interest in moving back to Knoxville is somehow irrational and obsessive. Any comments?

Cheryl

Why? What does she feel is irrational? Personally, I think that people that obsess over moving to Florida are nuts, but that is definitely a biased opinion.

[jamieh99]

I'm with yall. I am in Clovis,Ca and cannot get my wife out of here. I bought a new house in Seymour, Tn 1.5 yars ago and renting it out.
I want to go ASAP! What does a fella do?

[as3369]

I think people obsess about moving to Florida because they haven't lived here. Let me think of all the alluring qualities: Hurricanes, traffic congestion, rude drivers, zero lot line cooker-cutter sub divisions, increasing property taxes even with declining real estate value, corrupt polliticians, smothering summer heat, daily afternoon thunderstorms, mosquitos, violent crime, vagrants, egotistical self-absorbing attitudes.

Tennessee: Helpful and caring people, beautiful countryside, affordable housing, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, state parks, the colors of fall, tranquility of winter, optimism of spring, patriotisim, community involvement, etc., etc., etc.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by as3369

I think people obsess about moving to Florida because they haven't lived here. Let me think of all the alluring qualities: Hurricanes, traffic congestion, rude drivers, zero lot line cooker-cutter sub divisions, increasing property taxes even with declining real estate value, corrupt polliticians, smothering summer heat, daily afternoon thunderstorms, mosquitos, violent crime, vagrants, egotistical self-absorbing attitudes.

Tennessee: Helpful and caring people, beautiful countryside, affordable housing, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, state parks, the colors of fall, tranquility of winter, optimism of spring, patriotisim, community involvement, etc., etc., etc.

Perfect post.

Yet, there are people that wouldn't move from Florida to East Tennessee for all the tea in China. I guess it's a good thing. Otherwise the hordes of poseurs would be in my backyard. Yikes!

I use our daughter as an excuse for why we moved to East Tennessee but the truth is I couldn't have survived there even if I were retired.

I think it is the difference between an authentic and a superficial area. The people up here are real and I fully expect them to be here next week whereas in Florida your neighbor could pull out in the middle of the night and you might not even notice right away.

[TN Gal now]

I feel compelled to speak a little in defense of the native Floridians - since I am one. Although FL is geographically a southern state, in reality it is mostly comprised of people who have moved there from all over the country, largely the northeast and north central states. That alone has changed the atmosphere radically and caused an extreme density in population in certain areas. Add to that the get-rich-quick developers, snow-birds who go for several months and think they have a "say-so" in how things ought to be, or how "we do it this way back home" and you will see why discussion of FL's hospitality is somewhat skewed.

I grew up in a small Tampa Bay town in the 1950s and 60s. I watched the area change, as noted above, and moved to central FL in the early 1970s. I had fallen in love with TN in 1965 but didn't get here til 1982. FL has changed even more radically since I left.

FL has trapped itself in the tourist industry. All over the state locals are pitted against retirees for jobs, which are often low-paying because they CAN be filled by a retiree - who doesn't depend on a paycheck to pay expenses and sometimes just wants to work for "entertainment." They made their money earing high wages somewhere else, move to FL and think people (locals) should be "grateful" they go there to spend it.

So, if the people there seem rude, don't blame all Floridians - they probably aren't from Florida anyway. And if the native Floridians are sometimes rude, they just might be entitled to a chunk of resentment for those who moved there from "somewhere else" and changed their way of life forever.

As I write this, I believe that I can truly empathize with the locals of E TN, particularly Sevier County, and hope that as a transplant I've been able to be respectful of the culture.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Cheryl A. Koski

A friend of mine here in St. Petersburg has suggested that my continued interest in moving back to Knoxville is somehow irrational and obsessive. Any comments?

Cheryl

Gosh no! I see people on the Portland Or forum all the time who are so desperate to move to Portland they actually get angry when people try to warn them about the bad job situation or anything else negative about the area. Some have never been to Portland but are going only by a reputation about which they have only heard.

That's obsession!

You have tried both and have made an informed decision. There is nothing irrational about that. I wish you luck in moving back if you so chose.