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No. Mostly due to weather because I am an outdoor person with arthritis.
I did the next best thing and retired to the same manner of living, 11 hours south, on a small farm - with my horses, which means plenty of outdoor time and cleaning stalls.
I’m not fond of the high humidity in the summer but I am more fond of it than the literal bone chilling damp cold I grew up with
No. Mostly due to weather because I am an outdoor person with arthritis.
I did the next best thing and retired to the same manner of living, 11 hours south, on a small farm - with my horses, which means plenty of outdoor time and cleaning stalls.
I’m not fond of the high humidity in the summer but I am more fond of it than the literal bone chilling damp cold I grew up with
Stay active as much as possible depending on your physical condition. You will live longer.
I was born and reared in a rural Kentucky Bluegrass area the first eleven years of my life. I loved living in Kentucky and will probably move back if anything ever happens to my wife. My family’s roots there go back to 1769 and I have many first cousins there. I have at times rented and purchased homes there just so I would have a place to stay when I visited, which was often. I consider Kentucky home.
I have been living (I tell my friends I’m just visiting) in Alabama for 62 years now, growing up, working, and owning homes both as primary residences and vacation places. I have built many wonderful friendships and get to regularly visit my sisters and brother here, as well as relatives of my deceased first wife. I loved the vacation home that my second wife and I maintained along the Alabama coast for 15 years and would be very pleased if we were to decide to buy another place there at some point in the future. Alabama is my second home and I may well die here.
I was raised on a ranch, but had to move to a larger town for work.
30 years later I got the chance to buy a small ranch about 150 miles east from where I grew up. So I retired 7 years early, bought my ranch, and yes, I'm home.
I visit every few years and the visits just reinforce my dislike for the place.
Similar to me when I visit Chicago. Was a fun place to live in your 20s, but once you're out of the bubble for a while and go back you enjoy visiting, but could never see yourself living that life again. Lots of hidden costs too even if you have money.
Yes and no. I was born in northern Ohio and lived there until my parents moved to SoCal when I was nine. I have always missed the four-seasons climate but because of marriage and job concerns, I didn't make it back live in a four-seasons climate until two years ago when we retired to rural Wisconsin.
I finally feel as though I am back where I belong.
Last edited by katharsis; 05-18-2022 at 07:58 AM..
I "moved back" by leaving. My hometown is Colorado Springs which when I was growing up had a population of maybe 50,000 t0 75,000 - not exactly rural but certainly not a big urban population center either. The house I grew up in was located right on the edge of town and had a backyard that went on to infinity as far as I was concerned when I was 8 or 9 or 10.
...
I feel sorry for my old friends who still have to live in Colorado Springs. The poor things! To each their own, I guess.
I grew up in the flat lands SE of Peoria IL, with corn fields stretching to the horizon.
The first time I really realized how "out of my element" I had been, for all of my working years, was when I got off of a flight, on furlough from working in a city where the streets were all like alleys. I drove out to the airport exit, was met by an expansive view that went for miles, to the horizon. I couldn't go on for about thirty seconds: just had to stop and take it in.
A time shortly before that should have clued me, when a young lady heard me say that I felt sorry for kids that grow up in the city: they don't know what they miss. She asked me if I know what I missed by not growing up in the city. I laughed and said that, having lived in several big cities, I know I didn't miss a thing.
I recently moved up into the Ozark Mountains. Well, really the edge of a canyon, east of the mountains. Population, spread across two counties (including 8 small cities), is 48,000. My wife remarked that I am relaxed and happy now. Not bitter, untrusting and in a hurry, like I was all the time I was in the city. We don't even lock our car doors (nothing worth stealing in them).
We live in a secluded area and still can't see the horizon from our deck, but the drive into town overlooks some nice canyons, valleys and ranches. But, it isn't about the line of sight, as much as the people here. When we first moved here, my wife, having never lived in a place like this, was a bit on edge. She wasn't really used to being called honey, sweetie or love ... and she wasn't used to having women refer to her husband by those nick names, either.
It has been four years, and now she understands.
I am finally back among people I like.
When I go back east to visit my best friend, who grew up next door to me in the DC suburbs, the area has changed so much in the 35 years since I moved away that it's unrecognizable to me now.
I didn't like the area when I lived there, which is why I moved to the west coast, and when I go back, I like it even less.
Thing is, people who move to a growing area don't know what it was like before they arrived, so the changes don't bother them. It's when you've been away for a long time and go back that it's so noticeable - sometimes better, sometimes worse.
Just curious. Which suburb area? I was in the burbs of DC for many years.
The town we live outside of in VA had a population of around 1,200 and we live in the mountains 5 miles west of it. The next town over is around 5000. Farming community and a style of life it feels good to be in. I did not grow up in this particular area but my wife and I both grew up either in farming communities or very close to them. I worked on an uncles farm several summers. We married nearly 40 years ago and lived near DC and over the years I just became sick and tired of the traffic, congestion, cost of living and the crime. We finally made the move out to where we are now and this is where we will die and be buried. We are members of a smallish country church with loving and caring people and we can drive out in some of the most beautiful country near the east coast. We have fewer grocery or restaurant choices but in reality this has likely been better or my health. We can drive 30-40 minutes and be in larger more congested areas for more options if we need them. If I am smart enough to figure it out my neighbors farm with one of the small towns in the background. Also a pic from our back deck.
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