What's good about living in Memphis? (Germantown, Collierville: fit in, insurance, home)

[sb-gal]

The main reason I'll be kicking and screaming is because my older children (18 and 20) will be staying in California. I hate to leave them behind but they are adults and refuse to leave the area I can be OK anywhere if my family were with me.

Thanks for all the positive comments. I know it's 90% attitude.

I'm glad I only have a Hollywood misconception on Southern Women. I have very limited knowledge except for my friend and sister in law. I'm a casual sort of person and hope to find a church I can wear jeans in My in laws church isn't too keen on that.

[jnr4411]

Look at it this way, if you have the worst expectations ever, you will have no choice than to pleasantly surprised!

[UofMGrad92]

There are churches in this town for everybody. In a shout out to another thread, the only thing there might be more of in Memphis than Walgreens is churches. There are very conservative (theologically) churches where dress is casual. There are very liberal (theologically) churches that are pretty formal on Sunday morning. And there are big and small churches from end to end on that spectrum.

I must have missed the Southern woman needing to be put together before going out. One trip to Walmart or Kroger will put that to rest.

As for bike friendly areas, Bartlett is working on a paved greenbelt trail that will run all over town. Right now it is pretty short (a couple or three miles), but runs near some shopping and some neighborhoods. The area around Shady Grove and Humphreys Blvd (East Memphis) has a bike lane now, but that's some of the highest real estate in town. Most of the suburbs (in the neighborhoods) would be fine on a bike, but I'd avoid the highways and major streets on a bike. Heck, I try to avoid them in a car.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by JoeCartpath

I've never understood why people who are apparently so profoundly miserable here (or anywhere else, for that matter) don't just move to another area? Are they just to lazy to go to the trouble? Do they feel that they won't be able to find work elsewhere? I just don't get it. Memphis has it's share of problems....but I wouldn't be here if I woke up every morning feeling as if I were imprisoned by the city. I may not stay here once I retire, but it won't be because I'm miserable here - it'll be because of the lack of mountains or a beach

Oh.... it just takes some of us miserable folks a while to get it together, family obligations, money issues to work out, etc. (Said from the comfort of my new home with it's mountain views, yesssss!)

I'm not too sure about Memphis having something for every pocket book. When I was a low income single parent it was somewhat difficult to find affordable family things to do. Going to Shelby Farms wears thin after a while. Just sayin'
OTOH if the money is there, there is a lot to do in Memphis. Concerts, plays, sporting events, great restaurants, the zoo, the botanic gardens, Memphis in May, and so much more.

I know one "put together southern woman". My ex SIL always puts on her face and dresses to the nines every day before her DH gets home, or anytime she goes out in public. I'm not sure her DH would recognize her without her face on.

Hey sb-gal, Memphis has a great library system! It is the one thing I truly miss about Memphis.

[thenuegeye]

"Oh.... it just takes some of us miserable folks a while to get it together, family obligations, money issues to work out, etc."

Thank you for making this statement before I could. Notice how my other points were totally ignored.

"There are churches in this town for everybody."

And what if church isn't your thing??

"I've lived here almost 60 years, don't belong to a church and have a nice social life."

Maybe I should have been more specific. I notice how any mention of race is extremely touchy here. I will tread light. I was speaking from a black person's perspective. Maybe it's different for whites in Memphis. I will assume the initial poster is a white female so your experience may be different. Regardless of your race, many of the church people here, and there are a lot of them, tend to be very judgmental of people who are not part of their church circle. I know Cali is a very liberal state. Don't see how people from that state mesh well with the culture here. That's what I meant by it.

[JoeCartpath]

Originally Posted by thenuegeye

"I've lived here almost 60 years, don't belong to a church and have a nice social life."

Maybe I should have been more specific. I notice how any mention of race is extremely touchy here. I will tread light. I was speaking from a black person's perspective. Maybe it's different for whites in Memphis. I will assume the initial poster is a white female so your experience may be different. Regardless of your race, many of the church people here, and there are a lot of them, tend to be very judgmental of people who are not part of their church circle. I know Cali is a very liberal state. Don't see how people from that state mesh well with the culture here. That's what I meant by it.

Your are absolutely correct! And, not being black, I completely overlooked the fact that here is a vast cultural difference between the different races in Memphis in regard to this subject. Church and religion plays a far more important place in the lives of many...maybe most....black Memphians than it does white Memphians (I don't know if this holds true for other races or not). This is especially true of the older population. Pastors also play a very different role in black community than they do in the white community as well. They are much more involved in the community and in the daily welfare of their church members...

[Northfielder]

living in Memphis metro and living in and around Santa Barbara are two different worlds, but you will see that for yourself- since your inlaws are already intrenched in the Memphis lifestyle, they might also think that you're the one who is out of step, so depend on that-daughter in law or not- but you might have to be the one who is forced to dumb down or adapt- they all seemed to hate or strongly dislike outsiders who may voice their points of view- many have stated that who moved to Memphis to work for companies like International Paper (a few refused to make the move with their families from CT for example), Smith and Nephew, Harrah's, Autozone, and Fedex (particularly true with a few senior workers/pilots etc with Flying Tigers at the time of their merger with Fedex) - the academic community is very insular and exceedingly quiet in their complaining about the community for very obvious reasons because they are very very dependent and perceived to be part of the community and the future of the community, so many senior professors, advisors, administrators etc tend to be less vocal about the true ills of the area and how it stacks up against some of their prior academic assignments in other parts of the nation- the same is true withe the large medical community - St Jude particularly ! and U of TN Medical- Southern College of Optometry- U of M, Lemoyne, Tech and many others-the employees of firms such as Morgan Keegan, First TN Capital, Cantor, Vining, Duncan, and a host of other financial execs, banking execs may have a different relationship in the comunity and may be more vocal, or less vocal. I've lived in So Cal, and I find it hard to make too many positive comparisons with Memphis, TN- and I agree with another point of view that Memphis is consumed with all things racial- white racism, black racism etc- and that's too bad, but whites look at the viability of the city and area through the prism of race/color/ethnicity, and whites are still engaging in white flight, de facto social segregation, school segregation, the politics of race, and racial politics.

[Pearlbob]

The OP is asking specifically about the POSITIVES of Memphis, as she stated she has read enough of the negatives on here already. Please stay on topic.

[thenuegeye]

"They are much more involved in the community and in the daily welfare of their church members..."

That's a nice compliment about black pastors. It's not true though.

[Ginsaw]

Since jeans were asked about...I'm confident you will find that the majority of churches in Memphis will be glad to have you there period. Most will consider that the important thing. At least that's the case with certainly any that I've ever had anything to do with.