I never knew how much I missed Michigan till I lived in Tucson (Phoenix: scorpions, camping)

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by JGatti

Although I have two brothers in Arizona I can honestly say I don't see them taking the place of all the family and friends we have here in Michigan. Before you go calling my wife smart ( she is but not so much in this sense LOL) I have never been that close with either of my brothers and they both are very involved in their lives and extremely busy day after day. I'd like to give Arizona a chance mainly because with my digital media background I feel I have a better chance of success out there than here. Michigan will however always be home. I can't see me as comfortable and at ease anywhere else as I am here. 41 years is a long time to up and move and start over. We'll see.

That answer I can respect..............especially which I bolded.

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Smart wife! Being close to family matters more than many appreciate when they decide to move away. It's one of those never miss the water till the well runs dry kind of things. Being near family is what makes home "home". A good number of people who are unhappy in Arizona (or other adopted places) would be a lot happier if they had parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc here too. My wife's family is mostly in the Phoenix area, mine is in Michigan. Going to visit once a year is both too little and too much.

some families are so much drama, its great to be independent. I find I am actually much happier not being in the loop and having the responisibility of dealing with certain memebers. I love them, but I I appreciate a cheap fare at the airlines over the idea that they are arms length away.

Arizona is full of folks who have no family nearby. We all need to try and make freinds with eachother and fill the need. That said, when my son decides to move out, oh about 12 years or so from now (legally), Im not staying here if he moves to say Michigan. Ill move there and like it Im sure.

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

some families are so much drama, its great to be independent. I find I am actually much happier not being in the loop and having the responisibility of dealing with certain memebers. I love them, but I I appreciate a cheap fare at the airlines over the idea that they are arms length away.

Arizona is full of folks who have no family nearby. We all need to try and make freinds with eachother and fill the need. That said, when my son decides to move out, oh about 12 years or so from now (legally), Im not staying here if he moves to say Michigan. Ill move there and like it Im sure.

I catch your drift: I have no relatives here in Az at all.

Needless to say: in my particular case, blood is not thicker than water.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

some families are so much drama, its great to be independent. I find I am actually much happier not being in the loop and having the responisibility of dealing with certain memebers. I love them, but I I appreciate a cheap fare at the airlines over the idea that they are arms length away.

Arizona is full of folks who have no family nearby. We all need to try and make freinds with eachother and fill the need. That said, when my son decides to move out, oh about 12 years or so from now (legally), Im not staying here if he moves to say Michigan. Ill move there and like it Im sure.

I can relate very well to the family drama. I get along with my wife's family but would not miss them all that much if we were out there. I do have a friend out there already I went to high school with so that's a bonus.

[michmoldman]

Most of Michigan is not nearly as bad as people say. In mid to late march you can get ouside with a thin coat and not be too hot or cold. It might snow, but mainly northern lower and even that wont last long. So, you have March thru late October even mid Nov. to be outside and do what you want. I hate the heat and humidity, so I love our weather. It only gets real hot for maybe 3 months. Most people say we only have 3 months of good ouside weather??
I hardly think so. the only Months that really suck are most of Jan. and Feb., and most of March because it seems like we dont get much snow, and they are just boring.

[R_Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by canudigit

I think that in a year or so, I will start a thread here called:

"I never knew how depressed I was in Michigan until I got the he** out!"

Seriously, so maybe Tucson isn't the fun capital of the Western Hemisphere, but when you come back to Michigan, look forward to the following:

-piles of black snow waiting for the sun to melt them

-roads that are like driving on a washboard

-jobless rates that top the entire nation

-heavy handed union tactics that are destroying the blue collar work force that used to sustain Michigan's economy

-more people on public assistance than you could even imagine, with no jobs in sight...none

-increasing crime because of the horrific economy and because the cities are all desperate for money and can't hire more police

-gray skies, nothing but gray skies, from now on

-treacherous, icy roads--my county has stopped plowing on weekends entirely because they are out of funds, so if we get six inches of snow on a Friday night, plan on staying home or strapping on your snow shoes for the next two days

-muggy, humid summers that make your eyeballs sweat and man-eating mosquitoes that will keep you housebound if you get more than an inch of rain during the warm months since the cities can no longer afford to spray for them either

-a huge city that is dying from the inside out because of the collapse of the automotive industry and has found nothing else to revive it other than huge casinos in the downtown area


Okay, so not everything here in Michigan is terrible, but seriously, it is hardly the paradise that you paint it to be. No place is perfect, right? And seriously, if you hate AZ so much, you should probably post on the Michigan forum so that at least you don't offend people who live in AZ, but that's just me. I try to be polite because hey, if I don't like it, there's the door. That's why I'm leaving Michigan very soon. Arrividerci, Detroit, Gov. Granholm, and the worst roads in the country!

An interesting thing happens to all of us when we move. If things aren't as rosy as we thought they would be in our new digs, we start to idealize our old place. We forget the bumps and warts and only remember the good times we had with family and friends way back then.

So thanks for this message, Canudigit. It's really a good reminder that things change, that the economy has taken down some formerly good places, and that nothing is as we remembered it. You've heard that phrase, "you can never go back home." It doesn't mean you can't go back to the place you once lived, it means the place you once lived may not be what it was when you left.

Places in our hearts are made up of the experiences, the people, the events of the time, the fun, the memories, and also the landscape and environs. When we try and go back to that, some of the people are gone, the events are different, the landscape has changed, the memories may have been idealized, and we were younger and more naive then. So yeah, OP, you can sit in your Tucson home pining away for Michigan. But when you actually move back there, "THERE" may no longer be there.

That doesn't mean you can't recreate it. But don't make us wrong because you miss where you were.

Some of us happen to like 300 sunny days a year, the beauty of the desert after a rainfall, the magic of an Arizona sunset with the deep reddening horizon and a silhouette of a lone Saguaro Cactus in the foreground. We manage to find community in our churches and our hangouts and don't require the city to provide one for us. We have our own parties and BBQ's and interesting dinners with food from all over the world without having to drive to a restaurant. We work around the dry heat the same way the northerners work around the blistering cold winds and long winters.

I've lived in New York, South Dakota, California, Hawaii, and AZ. I've loved things about all of them, and there are things I wasn't all that crazy about.

There's a place for everyone. We all need to find that place. We find it by going towards it, not by damning what's around us. I hope you find that place. Meanwhile. I like the desert, I like the southwest. I like being out in the open desert and riding horses through stands of 200+ year old Saguaro. And if I didn't, I would leave. Everybody gotta be somewhere!

[HockeyGirl]

Originally Posted by odinloki1

...Tucson has so much sunshine.

Say.. I have a great idea!

I love the cold.

I'm in Anchorage. It's cold, snowy.. and there is volcanic ash all over the place.

Let's change locations!

What do you do at 110? Walk around naked..

Why not?

Seriously. The heck with Michigan! Come up here to the beautiful, but chilly mountains of Anchorage.

I love Tucson! ~~

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by michmoldman

Most of Michigan is not nearly as bad as people say. In mid to late march you can get ouside with a thin coat and not be too hot or cold. It might snow, but mainly northern lower and even that wont last long. So, you have March thru late October even mid Nov. to be outside and do what you want. I hate the heat and humidity, so I love our weather. It only gets real hot for maybe 3 months. Most people say we only have 3 months of good ouside weather??
I hardly think so. the only Months that really suck are most of Jan. and Feb., and most of March because it seems like we dont get much snow, and they are just boring.

Yep I agree. I'd even go as far as saying that it's not that bad in November at times. If I could afford to get away for a couple weeks in the winter Michigan would be perfect ( well if I could find another job too LOL).
I do find it strange that so many people in the Michigan and Arizona forums post so much about one another. Why is Arizona the destination for people leaving Michigan? Also why or how in the world can they even begin to compare the two on any level? They are nothing alike.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by HockeyGirl

Say.. I have a great idea!



I'm in Anchorage. It's cold, snowy.. and there is volcanic ash all over the place.

Let's change locations!



Why not?

Seriously. The heck with Michigan! Come up here to the beautiful, but chilly mountains of Anchorage.

I love Tucson! ~~

A buddy of mine moved to Alaska a few years ago. Said he would never come back to Michigan. He absolutely loves it there. Married a little Eskimo girl too.

[BillR1]

Originally Posted by R_Cowgirl

An interesting thing happens to all of us when we move. If things aren't as rosy as we thought they would be in our new digs, we start to idealize our old place. We forget the bumps and warts and only remember the good times we had with family and friends way back then.

So thanks for this message, Canudigit. It's really a good reminder that things change, that the economy has taken down some formerly good places, and that nothing is as we remembered it. You've heard that phrase, "you can never go back home." It doesn't mean you can't go back to the place you once lived, it means the place you once lived may not be what it was when you left.

Places in our hearts are made up of the experiences, the people, the events of the time, the fun, the memories, and also the landscape and environs. When we try and go back to that, some of the people are gone, the events are different, the landscape has changed, the memories may have been idealized, and we were younger and more naive then. So yeah, OP, you can sit in your Tucson home pining away for Michigan. But when you actually move back there, "THERE" may no longer be there.

That doesn't mean you can't recreate it. But don't make us wrong because you miss where you were.

Some of us happen to like 300 sunny days a year, the beauty of the desert after a rainfall, the magic of an Arizona sunset with the deep reddening horizon and a silhouette of a lone Saguaro Cactus in the foreground. We manage to find community in our churches and our hangouts and don't require the city to provide one for us. We have our own parties and BBQ's and interesting dinners with food from all over the world without having to drive to a restaurant. We work around the dry heat the same way the northerners work around the blistering cold winds and long winters.

There's a place for everyone. We all need to find that place. We find it by going towards it, not by damning what's around us. I hope you find that place. Meanwhile. I like the desert, I like the southwest. I like being out in the open desert and riding horses through stands of 200+ year old Saguaro. And if I didn't, I would leave. Everybody gotta be somewhere!

OUTSTANDING post!!
Thanks for writing it!