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I stuck it out longer than I should due to family and a comfort zone but I've been trying to, and wanting to move off LI nearly my entire adult life. I'd be gone most likely if it weren't for my wife. She was the one really hung up on the family thing.
Now, everyone important is either dead, or left NY.
I hate everybody and I have no friends so its no sweat on me to get the hell out of here.
Even though Im born and raised here, I NEVER fit in.
Always had a laid back redneck nature-loving streak in me.
I live a really awesome QOL here. We moved from Queens (blech) for my daughter's school district. She's only 3.5 and we may have done it prematurely, but we wanted her to be settled by K-1st grade.
Like you said - when you have all of your memories and family groups/friends nearby, it's easy to just live and be comfortable. I'm feeling itchy right now/something is missing. My QOL is great right now - but I'm missing the pieces that I need. Since I won't be living in Miami with my family for a long while, I have to settle in a good comfortable social circle with a lot going on. I just want to give it a try.
We shall see.
For me it's also about what we have here compared to other places. Ever been to somewhere like rural KS? I mean they have crap there. We're in the shadow of the greatest city in the world. There are jobs. There are beaches. Wineries. Fire Island. I am never without anywhere fun to go or anywhere good to eat.
Sure family, friends and having ties here is a big part of it but there is so much here and that comes at a price. We also have things that we like take for granted here that other places just don't have - school buses and garbage pick-up for starters. Some places literally don't have garbagemen that come around and you have to bring the stuff to the dump yourself.
We pay a lot here but the trade-off for me is all that we have.
After reading through this thread it made me realize the main reason I haven't left LI yet, and that's my mom. If she retires (which I think will be in a year)She would move with us (separate home of course)My dad's gone and my brother and his family live in another state and have their own lives and I am all my mom has right now. I don't hate LI as a whole I mostly hate the winters and high taxes. But I rarely complain about those things on CD.My Husband would move tomorrow. He's born and raised here since birth & I came to LI from Queens when I was 7. The advantage to moving is he can transfer with his job if he chooses to. My husband has said he's done with the snow, traffic, taxes and so on. We do plan to leave LI it's just a matter of when. Maybe in 5 -10 years that's our timeline. We don't have kids.
After reading through this thread it made me realize the main reason I haven't left LI yet, and that's my mom. If she retires (which I think will be in a year)She would move with us (separate home of course)My dad's gone and my brother and his family live in another state and have their own lives and I am all my mom has right now. I don't hate LI as a whole I mostly hate the winters and high taxes. But I rarely complain about those things on CD.My Husband would move tomorrow. He's born and raised here since birth & I came to LI from Queens when I was 7. The advantage to moving is he can transfer with his job if he chooses to. My husband has said he's done with the snow, traffic, taxes and so on. We do plan to leave LI it's just a matter of when. Maybe in 5 -10 years that's our timeline. We don't have kids.
I understand! I wish I had my Mom here. She said she’d come wherever I am when she retires.
Take your Mom and leave now. Once you have kids and build the circle, you’re here to stay I think so go if you want!
For me it's also about what we have here compared to other places. Ever been to somewhere like rural KS? I mean they have crap there. We're in the shadow of the greatest city in the world. There are jobs. There are beaches. Wineries. Fire Island. I am never without anywhere fun to go or anywhere good to eat.
Sure family, friends and having ties here is a big part of it but there is so much here and that comes at a price. We also have things that we like take for granted here that other places just don't have - school buses and garbage pick-up for starters. Some places literally don't have garbagemen that come around and you have to bring the stuff to the dump yourself.
We pay a lot here but the trade-off for me is all that we have.
While you can certainly compare LI to rural KS, you can also compare LI to other places less remote. You're right that there is a lot at your fingertips, but there are a lot of fingertips looking at those same places. If LI were its own state it'd be the most densely populated (like 4x NJ). That of course includes Queens and Brooklyn.
I've been to wineries on LI. Nice. Does it compare with Napa/Sonoma? Not even close. How about to wine growing regions in France and Australia? Nope. You can argue that it's a lot easier to get to the LI wineries and you are correct. But how many times do you really go to them?
This is not a dig specifically at LI. As a bedroom community for NYC it's got its strengths and weaknesses. But given the COL and QOL issues I'm not sure it rates highly on the "I really want to live there" scale for anyone other than native Long Islanders.
I stuck it out longer than I should due to family and a comfort zone but I've been trying to, and wanting to move off LI nearly my entire adult life. I'd be gone most likely if it weren't for my wife. She was the one really hung up on the family thing.
Now, everyone important is either dead, or left NY.
I hate everybody and I have no friends so its no sweat on me to get the hell out of here.
Even though Im born and raised here, I NEVER fit in.
Always had a laid back redneck nature-loving streak in me.
I'm not sure how I should feel about this.
Very confused right now.
I think I need an adult or a safe space.
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