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We moved here from New York four years ago. My family on my mother's side is from this area. However, we didn't feel at home here until RECENTLY, especially after getting involved in our health and wellness business.
When we first moved here, I didn't have any job prospects. I actually tried applying to become a public school teacher. Applied to perhaps 300 schools in several different counties, especially in Charlotte of all places! No bites. So I settled to returning to emergency medical services. My wife and I were VERY, VERY bitter about this area. But then we started making friends, getting involved in our church, got involved in health and wellness, and started seeing the beauty of this area. So, it took us almost FOUR years to really get settled.
But the above posters are right about home being where the heart is. You definitely need to get involved in this area in order to feel at home. Otherwise, it'll simply be a place to live, and not a home.
Being closer to family is more important than I realized. My parents are in their 70s now. I watch my brother and my cousins raise their kids - on Facebook!
A big reason for wanting to move is the climate (and my health). May through September it is too hot and humid for me to be active outdoors like I want to be. (I come from a family of great sweat-ers.)
We moved here from Southern California, but that isn't the "home" I want to return to. (I can't take the smog there, and land for horses is too expensive. I'm originally from the Northwest, and that's where I want to end up.)
Yep, I know the feeling exactly. We just got back from a wonderful visit to see my family and had such an incredible time. We had some beautiful weather that you could actually go outside and enjoy yourself without roasting to death.
And it was great to see so many friendly people. I stopped back in at an old job of mine and the place basically shut down for my visit, we had people from all over coming to our golf tournament and a party. It was incredible.
It was also great to not feel so cramped. Houses with big yards and no named subdivisions of cookie cutter homes. I can deal with that but it was nice not to see that.
I have been here since April. Lived in PA, NYC, and NJ. NYC is still "home" at the moment. I love NC and I truly feel that this "is" home, just will take some time. When I fly to other places in the country, I miss NC and want to go back right away. I have not been back north since my move and will be doing it at Christmas time. I sometimes miss the people, the noise, the city life and as soon as I feel homesick, I snap myself out of it. NYC was killing my family money wise and NC was our ticket to a successful and happy life. We now have the chance to do amazing things here. What does hurt bad is I miss my parents, my siblings, my friends and also left 4 nephews under the age of 2. I doubt they even know who I am and I am their only aunt. That can sting a bit but I am doing what's best for my family and myself and that gives me peace. Plus, I truly do love it here...just a little sad on what I am missing out on with the little ones. But would I ever move back? No way!
I've also been here about 2.5yrs - so far I've gotten married to a girl I met here, been offered (and accepted) another job than the one that moved me here, met a great group of friends, gotten bored with the same restaurants/bars enough to try out of the way places... and even with all that Detroit is still home. I'm heading back to GPF this weekend for a wedding and it just feels like I'm heading home from vacation. It really doesn't matter how long you've been somewhere, what really matters is how comfortable you are with where you're at in life. I like it here, I like having a job (rust-belters know what I mean), I like the nightlife but even so it doesn't feel like home nor should it since I didn't grow up here. I'm content with the area and what it has to offer but after 2.5 yrs + some milestones, no - it doesn't feel like I've "settled" here.
I understand totally! Crazy as it may sound, after 20 years here, this still does not feel like home like it does when I go back to Chicago for a visit. It doesn't mean I could live up there year round (too cold, too expensive, too big), but when I go back there it feels right in my bones. Even the air smells right (except when it's very smoggy!). If I could live there during the livable seasons, I would in a heartbeat. I'd switch for summer up there rather than in NC any day (too darn hot & humid here). So I settle for year round here to avoid the bitter cold, etc. up there. Life is a series of trade offs in many areas, but hopefully not in those most important. For me, that's relationships.
I enjoy going up to NJ to see family and old friends, but I feel like I am returning home when I arrive back in Raleigh. It just feels "right".
I often wonder if a person's ability to transition to a new place is influenced by whether or not they moved as a child or went to an out of state college in their youth. I have found that most of my friends who went to out of state colleges are more inclined to live somewhere other than NJ.
Learning to adapt to a new place gets easier the more often you do it. I haven't turned my back on NJ and it will always be a part of me no matter where I live, but Raleigh is my home now.
I often wonder if a person's ability to transition to a new place is influenced by whether or not they moved as a child or went to an out of state college in their youth. I have found that most of my friends who went to out of state colleges are more inclined to live somewhere other than NJ.
That actually makes a lot of sense! I moved a few times as a kid, but it was always within a 30 mile radius so I never really left the area I grew up in. Moving from NY to SC has been a HUGE adjustment. It's amazing the little things you take for granted and don't even realize it until you're somewhere things are completely different. From things like stores (mom & pop and chains), weather, soil, trees, grass (my entire development is sand and grass is VERY expensive to maintain here), water (there's no water except what comes from my tap) within at least an hour's drive, etc.
I've been here for 5 months and things are getting better. I'm starting to learn where things are. We have been out and about exploring and driving to other parts of the state to see what there is to do and see. With the heat and humidity dropping, it is definitely getting easier to go check things out. When it was in the 100's for days on end, we felt like prisoners in our home. It's a gorgeous house, but there's more to life than a house.
I enjoy going up to NJ to see family and old friends, but I feel like I am returning home when I arrive back in Raleigh. It just feels "right".
I often wonder if a person's ability to transition to a new place is influenced by whether or not they moved as a child or went to an out of state college in their youth. I have found that most of my friends who went to out of state colleges are more inclined to live somewhere other than NJ.
Learning to adapt to a new place gets easier the more often you do it. I haven't turned my back on NJ and it will always be a part of me no matter where I live, but Raleigh is my home now.
I lived in the same state for about 39 years straight. For 34 of those years I always wondered why anyone would ever move away. Then we got sick of the cold winter weather and moved and now I wonder why people don't move more often. We really have taken to living in different places to soak in the culture first hand. You can't do that by visiting a week at a time. You have to live it. After now having experienced several moves, I wish we started earlier. I am glad we have many years left to explore.
If you come here with a positive attitude it doesn't take long at all to feel like it's home. If you come here with a negative attitude it will never feel like home.
Wow that just nails it too. I go back up to New England and there is something in the air. The sweetness of apples and the open-ness. Not sure how to describe it. Something that NC doesn't have for me but I bet there is that guy out there that is from NC and travels back here and finds the smells and warmth that he knows (and I just don't).
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