Do you miss massachusetts? (Boston, Pittsfield: rental, unemployment, high school)

[gentlearts]

I miss the cheap lobster, and the old houses, and being steeped in history, and all the ethnic restaurants. I miss Crown Bakery in Worcester. Sure the countryside is beautiful, but if you go anywhere else in the country it's just as pretty.

I left when I got married and I'm so thankful I didn't have to raise a family in Taxachusetts. MA has the world's worst, rudest drivers, over priced housing, and Ted Kennedy.

[turk1will]

I cant beleive how much I miss home. I was born there I lived there until I was 39 been gone 11 years and cry internally daily for the old days in Dirty Dot. Truly the happiest times of my life. I bought a house in Pembroke for my family in 98 and I paid 149,900.00 and thought I was rich the same house is now worth 6-700,000. Insanity. I ache for Dorchester, J.P., Southie, Cambridge. I'm now in Northeast PA. It aint Dorchester.

[Lisa_from_Debary]

I grew up in South Lancaster...I was going over in my mind all the old homes. Some of them were enormous, owned by a family called Thayer back before there was electricity with plenty of room for servants.

I absolutely LOVE history so I think I am going to do some research into the family so I can sort of be in New England in my mind while reading about this family. There were at least 3-4 mansions from this one family.

One of them had this HUGE iron fence with the HUGE gate, you couldn't even see the house from the street...really amazing stuff.

[Sherry Tucker Brown]

Living in Massachusetts for 30 years! 12 in Boston and 18 full time on Cape Cod. Originally from NYC and in a 3 1/2 hour drive I'm there. Love the Cape and the Islands, the seafood the smell of the ocean. Only thing I'm getting tired of are the winters. Love the Northeast...would not live anywhere else except in the winter!

[Crystalmoon1979]

I have been living in the Colorado Springs area for 6 months now and I am soooo homesick,it is ridiculous.Let me explain the many reasons why my hometown of Worcester Massachusetts is the best place to live (in my humble opinion)Hahaha!
1.I now know why Colorado is one of leanest states....There is no good food !!!The chinese food here sucks,it is disgusting,no chicken fingers,fried jumbo shrimp or beef teriyaki!Paper wrapped chicken is gross!!The rice is loaded with peas,carrots and eggs.MY kids and I love chinese food and it is now a distant memory.
There are no Papa Ginos on the west coast,which in my opinion,has the best pizza,hands down.Hell,there are'nt even any family owned and run pizza parlors.Back home there was like two or three pizza parlors for every block.The selection on the menus was waaaay wider than the selections here,some greek owned parlors offered hummus and baklava(that I miss a wicked lot )Most pizza parlors served wings,brocolli and chilli cheese balls,tons of grinders,calzones,salads,appetizers and desserts,the list goes on.Here, the only place to order pizza is from huge chains that serve pizza that tastes like it was frozen and the prices are horrendous!
2. Worcester was a melting pot for many different cultures and ethnicities,You could'nt make a new friend without wondering or being ballsy enough to ask what thier racial make-up was.In my family alone,there is Puerto-Rican,white,Puerto-Rican/white,black,black/white.What I am getting at here is there is practically no racism .There were sections of the city that were predominantly Greek,Spanish,Asian,Jewish,Middle eastern,Polish and so on.There were specialty stores and restaurants for whatever culture you were in the mood for....What a gift it was to experience different things!
Here all I have seen is Mexican restaurants,which is not a particular favorite of mine and I have felt certain looks coming from people when they lay thier eyes on my inter-racial family.
3.Coffee!!!!Two words, Dunkin Donuts.Best coffee ever and there was like one on every corner back home,here there is like three and crappy,expensive Starbucks is everywhere,I refuse to go in one or purchase anything from one,Yes,I am a stubborn Yankee.The one Dunkins that we found makes you add your own sugar and there was'nt even a drive- thru!!How dare they!

[Crystalmoon1979]

4.It is too dry,too windy and too many thunder and lightning storms.Did I mention that it is way too windy? I thought I would like the absence of humidity that makes New England summers very cruel,but I was'nt expecting the severely dry and itchy scalp,loss of hair,and dry itchy skin that comes with the low moisture weather here.I miss the rain,rainy nights,and lush green forests and lawns,not the dried up,crusty yellow crap here.Yeh,and it is like the leading state for lightning caused deaths.....Yay!!
5.People here seem preppy and like a bunch of snitches!!Back home you did'nt have to be made to feel ashamed for enjoying some beers on your porch on a hot summer night or for pumping your music in the car.People did'nt rat on each other and call the cops for every little thing....I mean come on,handle it yourself like a big girl.I miss my ghetto friends that knew how to have a good time,but were also NOT criminals,just laid back,easy-going and fun,like most Worcester peopleI am a city girl and though the Springs are considered a city,I fail to see how.
5.I hate MUD!!!!!!!!!!!(when it does rarely rain,everything turns to slimy mud.
6.The mountains are gorgeous but so isn't the orange,reds and yellows of new England autumns.I also really miss the ocean.
7.I want fish and chips and clam and seafood chowder.The seafood here....wait a minute,what seafood?
8.I thought Massachusetts state taxes were high at 5%,here they are a whopping 7%.
9.The radio stations blow,there are hardly any good rock or alternative stations and too many christian stations,no offense but that is deffinately not my thing.
10.Are there any wiccans,pagans or new age practitioners out here or is everyone christian,evangelistic and mormon?Where are the open-minded,down to earth,free spirited,easy going and slightly ghetto but fun personalities that I so crave and miss?Maybe they are all hidden in the mountains or worst yet.....Maybe they were hung at the stakes.
I needed to vent about how homesick I am and hope that noone has taken any of this personally or been offended but it is my right as an American to freely express my thoughts and opinions,and feel wicked better now!

[Lisa_from_Debary]

NOW I am missing Massachusetts even more. I am 40 now but still in contact with the people I went to grade school with in South Lancaster, if you can believe it. We have been exchanging emails, many of them still live in the area...they are planning a meet up for the 30th of June which is what they do whenever someone from out of town is in the area..

One of my best friends has moved out of the area and is spending a couple weeks down on Martha's Vineyard and will finish up her stay at this meet up...can you think of anything nicer then a couple weeks on the Vineyard??

We have been catching up, sending around new pictures of our families and I have been scanning old pictures from grade school and sending them out...amidst loud protests from some who would rather forget the hair and clothes of the 70s...

One of these days I am going to load my car on the auto train...ride it all the way to Baltimore...its a pretty reasonable drive from there to South Lancaster...

I want to walk up Kilborne Hill again...you can see for SO far from there...there are so many people and places I want to visit...Mount Waschusett where I first learned to ski in grade school. There was a restaurant called The Old Mill up off route 2 above Leominster that was a gorgeous setting no matter the weather, the wheel was always going and ducks and geese on the pond around the whole place.

I used google satelite images to see the houses I used to live in, its surprising how much is the same...I had expected to see more homes built on the vacant land.

[puffle]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I miss the cheap lobster, and the old houses, and being steeped in history, and all the ethnic restaurants. I miss Crown Bakery in Worcester. Sure the countryside is beautiful, but if you go anywhere else in the country it's just as pretty.

I left when I got married and I'm so thankful I didn't have to raise a family in Taxachusetts. MA has the world's worst, rudest drivers, over priced housing, and Ted Kennedy.

Haven't been to California?

[findingmesomeday]

This was an interesting thread to read. I went to college in Boston in the laste 70's. LOVED it. Loved everything about Boston, being a student in Boston, etc. I came from Philly and was SO glad to get out of there. But as soon as I'd graduated, I left for the west coast. I guess I felt as though I didn't belong there, once I was no longer a student. I lived in the Bay Area and the Pacific NW as well as some other places in the west for almost 20 years. Then we came back 10 years ago. My husband loved visiting here (he's a west coast native) and when offered a job here, jumped at it. While I haven't minded it here--we found a great little town with a wonderful school system and the kids seem happy here--my husband HATES it here. For the past 2 years we've talked about leaving. We kept throwing different areas on the table: Seattle--would go back in a NY minute--never wanted to leave, but it's so expensive and congested now. Portland--pretty much the same thing. San Francisco: Not with kids. And talk about expensive! And so on. The place that kept coming up over and over again was Raleigh, NC. So we put feelers out. I immediately got some strong bites--even 2 job offers that I turned down. I'm on job #3 interview now and this one feels really right. I was in NC a few weeks ago, I've been phone interviewed to death and I have another in person interview coming up.

Here's the rub though. My oldest is in high school and I'm SO conflicted about moving him. And I don't handle change very well myself. Even though I know I wouldn't miss too much about MA, just the thought of yet another relo (and they're all corporate relos so we're talking a pretty easy move) makes me want to throw up. I wish I could fast forward the clock and have us all down there and settled.

Reading this thread offered some interesting perspective. thanks!

[seldomseen]

I really can't say that I miss Boston or Massachusetts much, if not at all, most likely because I never really embraced the New England "way of life" Boston/MA just hasn't/isn't my preferred place to live--not that there's really anything wrong with it, there's just other places I'd prefer to call home first. :-)