rural areas

[eagle]

its my 5th year living in a rural area. its not really that rural but i love to shop and i miss living in an area with trader joes, costco and whole foods nearby. im sick of going to the same 5 parks. i miss being able to explore new next door towns.

i hate it here. im worried that i may have to live here forever.

[eagle]

ill add that i do love to shop, which is a huge reason why it sucks. i *am* busy as a sahm and many days too busy to miss it, but right now, at this moment, i hate living here so freaking much.

[StantonHyde]

As much as I loved living in rural areas, I hear you. I gave up the year there was a huge ice storm and I couldn't get anywhere!!!! And I was single. I don't even like to shop. It was just the idea that I couldn't get anywhere. I moved into town after that!!!

[hellokitty]

Eagle, I feel like I could have written your post. Is there any chance that your dh will change jobs in the next few yrs? We have been in our current area for 10 yrs (never thought we would be here for so long), but there may a job opportunity coming up in the next couple yrs. So, we are hoping to move to a larger city.

[elliput]

I'm joining in on this pity party. We've only been in a rural area for about 6 months, but I understand completely. We moved from a city with a metro area population of 600K to a town with less than 8K. The closest Target is 100 miles away. Sam's and Costco are even further.

[crl]

:hug: It is hard when you don't like where you live.

Catherine

[icunurse]

I can only imagine. As much as I would love to to somewhere pretty rural, I'm not sure that I would like to be 20 miles or more from a hospital or a target/major grocery chain. But, on the flip side, when you live in the city or suburbs, you just feel so surrounded sometimes. Even if you have a nice area of land or a well planned subdivision, you are still surrounded by so many people and stores. It's hard to find a happy medium....

[NCGrandma]

It's interesting how different 'rural' is in different parts of the country. My family in New England is technically inside town limits but they're on 2 acres adjacent to a large nature reserve, and it sure seems rural to me (lots of wildlife, chickens, and their own well/septic tank). Not a lot of stuff actually in their town, yet they are about 7 mi from a big Super Walmart that is actually nice, 10 mi from Whole Foods and a community hospital, and 20 mi from a children's hospital.

[dcmom2b3]

I'm so sorry. :hug: It's hard not liking where you live. The grass is always greener. We visited friends in semi-rural Virginia last weekend, and I found myself thinking of how wonderful it would be to live there. Summer camp? --> "Go muck your pony's stall, take her out for a ride and I'll see you at lunchtime." Of course I didn't give a thought to the shops, museums, restaurants, etc. that we'd be leaving behind. :hug:

[eagle]

yeah, i guess the grass is always greener... but id rather have it the other way around, where i feel surrounded by buildings and anonymous people and have to take a break by driving out to the country. another thing i hate about living here is that when i go to the grocery or park or anywhere, really, i always bump into someone i know. i like being anonymous.

how to people cheat in rural areas? ;-D

my husband is up for tenure review in two years and we will see what happens then...

im so glad that there is this part of the board where i can just bitch bitch bitch. i dont feel right complaining to my local friends here. so many of them really truly love living here.

[Simon]

I love the privacy of real rural areas, but driving 45 minutes to buy gas and basic groceries grew old, fast. And I, too, love to explore other areas (towns, neighborhoods, etc) but it wasn't so fun to drive half an hour to find out that the next town over didn't even have a public park!

[lmwbasye]

Oh how I get it. I was just talking to a friend yesterday about how much I'm struggling with this move and HUGE part is how much harder it is to get stuff done here. We used to live in a big city and I had so much near me. Now, not only am I in a new country that doesn't have most things I'm used to, there is just no equivalent of Target and I feel like I have to go to 10 different places to get 10 different things. I miss that one-stop shopping. We have one grocery store option in this tiny little town and I really still haven't figured out where to get other things I may want/need (like a hardware store, etc.). I'm sure there are things around that I'm missing due to just moving and still being a bit "lost" here but I know for sure it'll involve driving and I'm already super frustrated just a few weeks in. I swear a 20 minute trip to Target could solve 75% of my issues right now, LOL. I miss having the convenience of a more urban setting already. Ugh.

[MamaMolly]

One thing I detest about small town living is the loss of privacy. I hate going to Starbucks and the guy serving me coffee remembers me (and my kids :bag) from 2 weeks ago at his other job at a store when Dolly had a typical 2yo meltdown. Or like last Friday driving an hour to the outlet mall only to have the lady selling her Etsy type jewelry at the outdoor vendor fair remember us from when we bought jewelry TWO YEARS AGO. Like Garbo: I vant to be aloooonnnne!

[mom3boys]

I totally understand. I grew up in a rural area--we actually lived "in-town" so that made it a bit easier (short drive to a grocery store, pharmacy, etc--although these were small-town non-chain stores and were not open the hours you might be used to), but I had friends who lived on farms and such. My school was a regional high school made up of 7 towns. It took SEVEN towns to get to 100 seniors. I had friends from school living 1/2 hour drive from me. It was fine when I was a kid but as a teenager having the nearest movie theater 35 minutes away and the nearest mall 40 minutes away was a challenge. Now DH and I come to visit my parents there and bemoan the fact that we finally get free babysitting for a night out but all the restaurants are closed by like 8:30, and there are only about 3 places to eat! The nearest Target is 40 minutes, Walmart 30 minutes. I don't even know where a Costco or BJ's is. Or Starbucks, or any place to get sushi. I don't think there is a TJ's in the entire state.

I do think it's interesting though that some PP are equating rural with lack of big box stores. This is true of very urban areas as well. You won't find Target, Walmart, Home Depot or Costco in Manhattan either, although there are Targets in the other boroughs (I clearly remember Michelle Duggar once saying about NYC "I don't know how they manage without a Walmart!") Of course, there is Whole Foods and TJs in Manhattan, and about 1 Starbucks per block.

[Mopey]

I do think it's interesting though that some PP are equating rural with lack of big box stores. This is true of very urban areas as well. You won't find Target, Walmart, Home Depot or Costco in Manhattan either, although there are Targets in the other boroughs (I clearly remember Michelle Duggar once saying about NYC "I don't know how they manage without a Walmart!") Of course, there is Whole Foods and TJs in Manhattan, and about 1 Starbucks per block.

Just to let you know PP, we have everything you mentioned but Walmart. Home Depot is right down the block from Bloomie's (and that's just one location) and the rest are located up in lower Harlem at a large complex on the East River my Mom, Sis and I refer to as "The Mecca" :D (Old Navy, a shoe and furniture store too, and Best Buy! And Pet Smart! It's like Suburbia! Weeeeeeeeeee) ETA: And Marshalls!

[StantonHyde]

well, I will say I love going where everybody knows my name ;-) I am in a city here, but my circle is small. I also like being treated kindly and that works better when people know you. And I truly do miss being so connected to the land. But I have trails in my back yard here, so that is good. I just do.not.miss being miles from everyday necessities!!!!