Ever feel like you belong somewhere else?

[infomama]

As we make our way home from this vacation I am getting more and more certain that I would be happier out west. For some reason I feel grounded/at peace out there. Its kind of crazy....we both have successful jobs with pensions, schools are good here....I don't know....I must be crazy.

[elliput]

I don't think you are crazy at all. Both my DH and I grew up in the west. Both our families are still there, and we desperately want to go back. I need me some big Rocky Mountains. :)

[Seitvonzu]

YES.

we live east coast. we recently returned from portland, OR where for 6 days i must have told anyone who would listen about where i live being "souless." not the whole east coast...but i really feel like where we are is sorta, eh, resoundingly mediocre. the food, the culture, the lack of scenery (there are "pretty" things, but nothing inspiring or amazing... )

i don't know that i belong "out west" so much, but i do enjoy it when i visit. i remember feeling really "at home" on a family vacation to arizona too. mostly we want to go "home" to texas (my home, and my husband's dream location since he was a little boy in CT if you can believe that!).

so YESYESYES!!!!

[Seitvonzu]

oh- and my husband's job is extremely good/stable...so if we are stuck here, we are stuck. but we have a little out and we're hoping to make that work sooner rather than later!

[cono0507]

Yep! We travelled out west for summer trips and ski trips for a few years and decided that was where we were supposed to be. We made the move a few months ago and we are loving it!!!

[Drag0nflygirl]

I grew up on Long Island, 2 minutes from the beach. Now in Philly people say to me, "but the shore is only an hour and a half away." Not the same. Not at all. I don't really care if it's LI or elsewhere, but I really want to be nearer to a beach. Not a lake or a river - just a good old sandy, briney beach.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

YES.

every time i come back to CA, i feel kinda sad that i don't live here anymore. the weather is amazing, there's amazing scenery (mountains, oceans, etc) and i have family (parents, aunts/uncles etc) and friends that have known me for 15+ years. i totally don't have that where i live now. for the most part, feel very isolated, especially as a SAHM. i HATE the summer weather here (100+ degree weather that lasts ~4 months). oftentimes i feel like i don't fit in at all. it honestly feels like i'm in another country sometimes...when i first moved here i felt like i was constantly asking "and what is xxx? " and people would look at me as if i had two heads. i've moved around a lot and have lived in five different cities before and and never had this feeling anywhere else.

of course though we're not going to move bc where we live there are excellent schools, very affordable housing, and it's within driving distance (5+ hrs) to DH's family. plus, there are many things i don't miss about CA (the traffic, for one!).

[infomama]

I don't think you are crazy at all. Both my DH and I grew up in the west. Both our families are still there, and we desperately want to go back. I need me some big Rocky Mountains. :)
There is just something about the Rockies, isn't there. DH and I have been racking our brains for the last thousand miles as to how we would make our livings.

[crl]

As we make our way home from this vacation I am getting more and more certain that I would be happier out west. For some reason I feel grounded/at peace out there. Its kind of crazy....we both have successful jobs with pensions, schools are good here....I don't know....I must be crazy.

I don't think you are crazy at all. I was a military brat and have lived lots of places. People love SF. I'm not sure it will ever feel "right" to me. Colorado feels right. Even the East Coast felt more right. I'm hoping that the bay area will grow on me because I don't think we are leaving anytime soon.

Catherine

[rkold]

Yes, sort of, though our move was not very dramatic in terms of actual distance.

We were living outside NYC about 7 miles from where I grew up and where my parents still live, walking distance to a Synagogue my husband loved and were only 7 miles from his job. We had a nice 3 bedroom house in a friendly neighborhood with decent schools and had just spent a lot of money finally replacing the kitchen counter tops I had hated since we bought the house. lol But when driving back from a trip to a Pick Your Own fruit place in CT last August we talked about selling the house and moving someplace a little more suburban/rural where we would have more land and could have the sort of garden we dream about (and possibly chickens). We spent the Fall prepping the house and thinking about where we might want to try to move to. We sold the house and are now about 1 hour away from where we use to be but it feels like a different world. There is a dairy farm (w/homemade ice cream) only 7 miles away and a Pick Your Own Apple place only 3 miles away. We now need to start looking at places to buy since we're currently in a rental. Overall, we're both much happier up here, though there are definitely things I miss about our old location.

[DietCokeLover]

Oh my goodness, YES!!! Since the day we moved to this horrible town. I have known I was supposed to be anywhere else but here. But 5 years later, I'm still stuck here.

The deep south is where my heart lives and breathes and desires to be back to.

[sunnyside]

I don't think you are crazy at all. I was a military brat and have lived lots of places. People love SF. I'm not sure it will ever feel "right" to me. Colorado feels right. Even the East Coast felt more right. I'm hoping that the bay area will grow on me because I don't think we are leaving anytime soon.

Catherine

I'm a military brat that ended up living in SF for 12 years and then moved to Tahoe and now Reno. SF always felt like a great place to live, but never felt like my "home". Nowhere really feels that way actually, but Reno is a little closer.

I will say that the east coast definitely doesnt feel like home to me. But I spent most of my life in the South.

[daisymommy]

Another California girl here at heart :) Born and raised in SoCal for 18 years, no where else ever feels quite right. But I know we just couldn't afford it now, and all of our family is out this direction.

[shawnandangel]

Yes. I belong in Michigan and am unfortunately stuck in Tennessee.

[longtallsally05]

Yes. Ever since I was 21 I have felt in my gut that I was meant to live in NM. I grew up in AK, and when I am in NM I just get that same feeling, but without the cruddy winter weather! Someday I'm going to figure out how to get there...

[maiaann]

I was born and raised in the country in Kansas and I spent most of my childhood miserable and hating it there. I never felt like I quite fit in. Most of my friends were farmer's daughters, very country, and never had super high dreams or aspirations. Very few of my friends even went on to college. The people are nice and there are things I do miss about the midwest, but it never felt like home to me. DH and I moved to Colorado immediately after we graduated college. We've lived in Denver for 10 years now and I couldn't be happier.