Advice for Those Moving from New Jersey to Brownwood, TX (Dallas: Home Depot, theatres)

[westcoast-girl]

Originally Posted by jersey_girl

Basically, my post (and I'd say the posts from the natives as well) is a warning to those women in the northeast whose significant others have been offered a transfer to Brownwood, TX.

Don't go.

My husband was born and raised there, I visit it just the one time and loved the people and loved the slow live there I was so relaxed and it felt so good from the fast life, that i have lived for 40 years in Calif. I cant wait to move there.

[Stan41]

I live 35 miles from Brownwood and it is too big of a city to suit me.
Stan

[LBK2BRNWD]

Hey there Jersey girl -

I am also a college educated young woman whose finance is looking at taking a promotion to Brownwood. I read your post and had to laugh. The wed teenage mom population sure didn't like what you had to say! They totally misunderstood your post. . .

Anyway, I am posting because we may be moving there soon and I was wondering if you were still there or if your crippling bordem forced you to leave.

TJ

[CMDallas]

LOLOLOL
NJ is all like one big city... yeah I feel your pain... Rural communities can be REALLY boring. but there is a natural beauty you have to see... you might see it when you leave... unless you really hate it all
You should see if he can get a transfer to Dallas or Houston LOL... that'll be more 'you'...

[jersey_girl]

It's been a while since I logged in, so here's the update. Since my last post, my boyfriend has become my fiance, and we are still living in Brownwood. With gas prices the way they are, there was no chance of commuting to a job outside of Brownwood, so I stayed unemployed for three months hell-bent on finding a job that paid more than $15/hr and offered health benefits and eventually found one in town.

As the economy is doing very badly, we've decided to purchase a house in town at even lower prices than they were before, and we're hoping that when the economy picks up, we can sell it at a profit.

I still haven't made any friends my own age, but our older friends have been giving us activities to do, such as hiking/camping/boating on the Colorado River near San Saba.

Yes, I'm still bored out of my mind, but knowing that I'm making enough money now to not only pay my bills, but also buy games and trips and things of that nature without the help of my significant other certainly helps my mood.

I told my boyfriend that I would not be living in Brownwood in five years, and he still proposed to me a few months later, which is a good sign. We had a long talk, and he is not planning on staying here forever, he just wants to get a couple years of work experience under his belt before trying to find a job elsewhere. We both agreed that the economy right now is no good for moving out of town or changing careers, and I'm content to wait a few years for it to recover before we make plans for a family in a suburb far, far away.

[beowulf7]

^ Good luck. Just hang in there.

[MichelleB12]

I grew up in the Brownwood area (actually even more rural) and my only advice: get a boat and head to the lake.

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by MichelleB12

I grew up in the Brownwood area (actually even more rural) and my only advice: get a boat and head to the lake.

That's apparently what my mom did for all her teen years. She grew up there, my Grandma grew up there, everyone was delivered by the same doctor for several generations!

My great great Aunt (deceased), lived there too and she was (gasp) a LESBIAN! Shhhhh! Everyone in the family still pretty much insists she just "didnt' like men" and had a "roommate" for a very long time. I cannot imagine living there in the 20's, considering!

Anyway, we used to go to B'wood to visit my mom's G-Aunt who helped raise her. Occasionally for family reunions and to visit the cemetary. Lots of family all lived and died there. I loved running out the screen door into the back yard of her old house with it's screened in front porch, hardwood floors, old quilts on the bed, and antique pedal sewing machine still in daily use. Down the street was the old Five & Dime where my mom used to get milkshakes or root beer floats or somesuch. Her stories of growing up there always conjured up idyllic '50's sock hop images for me when I was 9 or 10. Even her stories of it being "dry" and she and her friends having to sneak around to go get beer in another county.

There was a back alley with blackberries to pick, and an old water spigot in the back yard, and chickens... oh and an old antique Ford in the separate garage.

After she died, other family sold her house. We used to visit one of my mom's high school friends on his ranch near Brownwood, go to the tank and row around in the rowboat or fish, sit on the porch and watch the stars, the deer, and take in the silence and the huge Texas sky.

However, I could never stand more than a week of that!! Then it was back to "the city" for me, post haste! I'm from San Antonio for most of my life, which some argue is just a huge small town, but compared to Brownwood it might as well be NYC. I grew up in a relatively small town, moved away when I was 13, and vowed never to do that again. To each their own!

I bought a house very much like my GG Aunt's old house, except it's 2 miles from downtown SA.

Hang in there... small town life is hard if you're not used to it but it seems you're making the best of things!

[wyatthiggins]

Please tell me more about Brownwood. Is there a movie theatre there? Any activities for little kids (like karate classes)? Wal-Mart? How are the schools?

Thanks

Becca

[GayleTX]

There is a job opening for an administrative assistant in the President's office at the university (HPU) ....$15/hr. I would think they'd be delighted to find an educated young woman for such a position since there appears to be a shortage of same in town.