New Residents: Now that you've moved to Mass, do you have any regrets?

[Jblue385]

I'm not here yet but I will be in September!

[northshore4]

I'm originally form Massachusetts (the north shore) and often think about returning. Our family moved to southern California when I was in grade school and it was a big adjustment. In a way I've still not adjusted. The people are so different. In California, we were surprised that strangers would say hi when passing by. But, the girls at school were snarky. The kids in Mass. were nicer.

From what I remember the people in Mass. tend to say what they are thinking. In California, they may be nice to your face, but who knows what they really think. In general, I found the people in Mass. to be warmer and more genuine. If they think you suck, they will tell you to your face. I'd much rather that, then fake nice to your face.

After all these years, I still don't feel like California is my home. They say you can't go home again in that you change and the place you came from changes, but I still think about returning. I miss the seasons, the trees, the food, and the people. I miss spring...it was amazing. Fall was beautiful and Christmas was cold like it should be. Oh yeah, and everything wasn't built last week.

[seeriously]

I'm newly returned to Massachusetts after being gone for the last 15 years and I love it. I'm never leaving again. We live on the Cape, we love the smallness (quaintness) of it here and we love that Boston is right up the road. In the circle I travel, I seem to find very educated and well traveled people. I love the wit of Boston people and yes they do come out and say what's on their mind. Massachusetts is what it is... old, crowded, ripe with history, great seafood, renowned colleges, and a snappy attitude to boot. Love it!

[penny1969]

Well, since coming BACK to Massachusetts, in need of dental work due to a domestic violence situation with my own biological family in a western state which shall remain nameless but needless to say does not offer any kind of free dental care for domestic violence victims needing front teeth replaced or a "flipper" or dentures (and in which dentists were quoting me upwards of $4,700 for the procedures), I have noticed that the housing prices have gotten WICKED out of control in the North Shore area. I mean, given the fact that no one, some even in THIS state, seems to know WHICH Salem I'm talking about when I say "Salem," "this" Salem sure has gotten out-of-control expensive.

What I'm going to miss about New Mexico is the majority of BROWN people in the population. At least out in Western New Mexico, so much of the population is brown like me and none of them get mistaken for "African" Americans either. No one would treat a dark skinned Navajo or Hopi like "black" or call him or her that to their face...at least not in Gallup. Now, if that person came with me to Boston they might be treated the same way I get treated here. Yeah, what I'm already missing is the majority Native American and/or Latino population.

I may or may not go back out there when and if I get ASL interpreter certified, to teach their Deaf because I've discovered in my old age and in trying to live in 12 states and 4 countries now, the Deaf treat me better, overall, than Hearing people.

[penny1969]

Originally Posted by ipoetry

I seem to find very educated and well traveled people.

That IS the plus side of Massachusetts, and probably Connecticut as well. That's what I missed while IN New Mexico!! People who have either SEEN something outside their own back yard or have at least READ about it in, you know, a BOOK or something. I got sick and tired of always being asked "where you from?" every time I opened my mouth, sometimes not even waiting until I mentioned some other place than wherever I was currently standing. Or, and this one got on my last nerve too: they would just assume I must be BORN AND RAISED in whatever place I mentioned having been TO. I would mention, for instance, knowing about IKEA (Denver) delivery radius and someone quickly assumed "oh you must be from Denver" - WTF?? As if I'd have to be "from" the place the nearest IKEA store was located. (The next nearest IKEA store to there would be the one in Phoenix - now, must I be "from" Phoenix to know that?!) I missed being able to TALK in Massachusetts without people jumping down my throat with assumptions that I must be born and raised in whatever place I was talking ABOUT (although that one did happen to me in New York City, too: I had already told people I was born in Saskatchewan and then one time I mentioned something about London and got "oh are you FROM London?" - and, sorry, when I'm calling people stupid I'm just calling it as I see it!) ...

...I think this is how, in New Mexico I learned to appreciate the DEAF. And the fact that the same school districts that are hiring Math teachers are also hiring ASL interpreters who get paid more and, as far as I'm concerned, get to work with a slightly better class of people.

[penny1969]

Originally Posted by EnjoyTheSilence

I did find people to be a little standoffish (reserved), but not in a rude way. I guess that New Englanders are just more reserved, but I did find that when I made the effort to break the ice, people were extremely easy to talk to and I actually felt so much more confident, in terms of interacting with people.

I grew up with the "New Englander/Maritimer" "way of life" via my father. (And if I were saying this in person, when people SEE me, they take a while to wrap their heads around the fact that my father RAISED me, and yes he was my BIOLOGICAL father, MARRIED to my mother for the 35+ years until he died, and all that...but in person I'm starting to hate talking to "hearing" people anyway...but I digress) So I'm used to it. I don't consider us to be "cold" or "standoff-ish" rather the opposite, I find WAY too "warm" and overly-friendly!! All that touchy-feely stuff they do down South (or at least, what Southerners do in other parts of the country where I've met them) is a bit uncomfortable to say the least. It's nice to be back where, at least OVERALL, people stop acting like they expect ME to act like people do in the South. Except, of course, for the people HERE who are from anyplace in the South. Although with our winters, I'm kind of wondering why they're here...

Now that I'm back in New England I just wish people would stop treating me like they think I'm "from" the damn South. With all that touchy-feely and taking all day to get one sentence out of their mouths and so on and so forth.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by penny1969

I grew up with the "New Englander/Maritimer" "way of life" via my father. (And if I were saying this in person, when people SEE me, they take a while to wrap their heads around the fact that my father RAISED me, and yes he was my BIOLOGICAL father, MARRIED to my mother for the 35+ years until he died, and all that...but in person I'm starting to hate talking to "hearing" people anyway...but I digress) So I'm used to it. I don't consider us to be "cold" or "standoff-ish" rather the opposite, I find WAY too "warm" and overly-friendly!! All that touchy-feely stuff they do down South (or at least, what Southerners do in other parts of the country where I've met them) is a bit uncomfortable to say the least. It's nice to be back where, at least OVERALL, people stop acting like they expect ME to act like people do in the South. Except, of course, for the people HERE who are from anyplace in the South. Although with our winters, I'm kind of wondering why they're here...

Now that I'm back in New England I just wish people would stop treating me like they think I'm "from" the damn South. With all that touchy-feely and taking all day to get one sentence out of their mouths and so on and so forth.

I know that lots of people say that so I guess it must have some basis of truth, but I haven't had any experiences like that at all. Maybe I'm just naïve. 2 of my kids have gone or are going to college there and we usually visit twice a year. Of course I'm ultra polite when I have to ask for anything because that's just how I was raised.