Do you now live in the town you grew up in? (OT)

Yes, but... we are in the process of moving 60 miles away to our lake house with a slower pace of life and NO traffic after living in the northern Virginia for almost all of our lives. Downsizing and going through 40 years of accumulated "stuff" has been a big job.

I live about 3 miles from where I grew up. Still drive the same streets, but the city has changed, a lot. The hardware store is now a retirement community, the hamburger stand is a empty lot, the movie theater is a drug store, the supermarket moved across the street and the community hospital was bulldozed and replaced with a FedEx store and a Wallgreens.

The other day I was telling my wife a story about were my brother totaled his car 30 years ago by hitting a traffic signal. I told her it was the traffic light near the post office. She was very confused until I realized that the post office moved 25 years ago and she's only lived on this side of town for 15.

You can't go home again, even if you still live there...

Andrew

I moved about 450 miles away from my home town for employment. I got married and collected the usual household goods and junk.
Then my Dad retired and moved to a small place in Florida and asked me to store his household in my large, relatively empty, home. "Sure, Dad, Relax. There is no hurry. I have the space. Send it here and we'll sort it out."
That was in 1981. My Dad passed away in 1998 - and all that stuff is still in my attic! Ugh! My poor wife....

I grew up in Detroit. Most of the neighborhood is gone. I've gone back a few of times in the last 51 years. Really different .... eerie.

I live about 80 miles (in Georgia) from my hometown (Guntersville, Alabama). We're trying to buy a condo on Lake Guntersville now but just need 1) 1 son to get out of his private college, where he'll be a 5th year senior in the fall; 2) The other son a year of college under his belt to see how he'll do, 3) about $50,000 more dollars saved!

Then I hope to have that place for our once a month trips home, for family, etc. And then in about 10 years I'm going semi-retirement and working some "from home".

I agree you can't go back. This past weekend I met up with 20 old fraternity brothers. Four of us have a great story from a spring break from hell. One of the guys planned a trip for us to stay a couple days in the Orlando area, where he grew up but had been gone 10 years. He got us all worked up about this lake he used to visit as a kid, and when the four of us 19-year-olds got there it was a grown up swamp that looked like nobody had been there in the 10 years.

We went on to Ft. Lauderdale later and ended up in jail for drinking in public, so it didn't get any better. That's the last time I've been in one though....

I left home when I went to college, and stayed in the college town for 10 years after graduation, then moved to where I am now 24 1/2 years ago. I get home, 450 miles away, a few times a year. My mother still lives there in the same house. I just got a notification that next summer will be a 40th high school reunion. I might actually go.

The town has changed a lot, but a lot of things are still where they always were. (Suburban Cleveland).

Wrong person to ask that question. Long lost track, I have lived in at least 50 places in my lifetime, including living in 6 countries beside the USA. This counts growing up in a military family, myself being in the military, and having the moving itch constantly the first 20 years of my 41 years of marriage.

However, we have lived in the same county here in SC since 1993, a record for me. During that time, we are in our 4th, and probably, last house. In August, we will have lived in this house for 10 years, another record.

If I had to consider a place to be "home", I would have to drift back to my years in New Hampshire. I still miss the state dearly, and wished I had never moved south. But due to age, all my family living in SC now, and my failing health, there's no rational reason to move back North. So here I will stay.

It's funny how little things in one's life ends up directing where one ends up at. SC was never on my list of dream places, but in the late 80's, the company I worked for, closed up shop in NH and moved the entire plant to SC. I was one of only 6 employees in NH offered a job in SC, so move we did. They paid for the entire move, lock, stock, and barrel. At the time, it was the best deal going, and we sold our NH house in a strong seller's market, for about 25% over listing price. Within 6 months of moving, it reversed into a strong buyer's market, so we really lucked out there.

Home is where the heart is, so I feel comfortable enough thinking of where I am living as home. Is it the home of dreams? No, but more than enough for us, and more importantly, we were able to pay it off in full 2 years ago, only 8 years into a 30 year VA mortgage. So all is well.

Grew up in SouthCounty, R.I., specifically 2 towns…Peace Dale, and Narraganset…Beach towns which thrived in the summer and were desolate in the winter, except for us "locals". In narragansett, lived 5 blocks from the beach. Never surfed, but did see them out there in the summer. Now that is a segue into another, synchronistic, if you will, story. Ok, we changed plans for for a european cruise, and decided to spend 1 week in Manhatten and 2 weeks in R.I this summer.. So now that I can surf, I naturally want to surf one time at least at Narraganset beach. So Im looking on line at surf shops and find one but when answered the kid knew nothing about surfing{it was also a skate shop} and he advised me to call his boss. Gave me the number…no response, so I put it into abeyance for a bit.This was a week ago. Fast forward till saturday at my surfing spot. I run into a guy I have never seen surfing there before and we get to yaking. Subject turns to my Narragansett trip. Well it turns out this guy is owner of the surf school /rental shop across the street. He started it up 20 years ago. Ive been a regular at the spot for 4 years. Im getting there, promise. Well he just happens to know this guy who owns a surf shop in narragansett. and is a top surfer in the east coast. He gives me his name, which I will reveal later, and it is the same guy who is the boss of the kid I talked to on the phone. I call up the next day, reach him…he confirms knowing this guy from Maui. We talked story for a bit and I discover his shop is directly across the street from the house I grew up in.{th shop was a mom and pop store in my youth}. Oh and to connect another dot{ a reluctance on my part to ever grow old,as I hopefully will, but not today}. Oh yes
the name of his shop and his real name….Peter Pan. You can not make this stuff up. Google PeterPan surf and skate shop, for any skeptics. Hope i get a good deal on the rental…tee hee.

I left "home" to go to college and did not return until I retired about three years ago. I still have most family here including daughter and her family. I did visit at least once a year regardless of where I was living at the time. My move back has been less than satisfactory. Crime is rampant and the areas of town I grew up in look like third world nations with rot and decay of the once nice homes. The downtown area or "historic district" is still intact and shines like a new penny due to tourism. Though many of the buildings, including the grocery I worked in during high school, have been converted to upscale hotels. Housing is sasly lacking if you want new. But then that is to be expected in a city founded in 1733. Oddly enough the geography and layout of the town have not changed much and it is a pretty city with a slowness about it. Sort of invites you to relax and take a breath.

The funniest part for me has been the cultural shock I have experienced moving from the northwest the southeast after 21 years. Sometimes I regret moving back and then I get a visit from my grandchidren and I think... OK this is a good thing.

Don
PS Read the TW book referenced above. I read it years ago and it has stuck with me all those years and was on my mind when making the decision to return.

Born in Conway, SC but lived 14 miles away in Myrtle Beach, SC for 17 years. Moved back to Conway and have been here ever since.
I'm a simple man and the song too...

I'm moving "home" in two weeks after 46 years, many addresses in many countries. Will be my last move I suspect, circle complete!

Cheers, Doug