Moving/living in different cities/countries in life

[shootingstar]

So how many different cities/towns/countries have you lived after you finished high school? I'm using that cut-off, because that's when you're more adult and not bound to parents' moving desires/agendas.

How did you adjust?

Let's see I've lived in 3 different cities. Have lived in Canada all my life in 2 provinces. (Yea, my life is narrow except for the reality of non-English speaking relatives, including my mother.) Each new city coincided with a major turning point in life. So yea, some uncertainty each time and really not knowing what to truly expect.

[Aggie_Ama]

I lived where I went to college which was 100 miles from home, then two suburbs of the town I grew up in. DH grew up here too, we're ready to move somewhere different because neither of us really moved around much and don't know anything but this area.

[NbyNW]

7 cities, 3 countries (US, Taiwan, Canada). Did NYC twice actually, about 8 years apart.

Adjustment strategy varies. If I am the prime mover, it's easier -- I am moving towards something, maybe have a job or academic program to plug into. It's nice to have friends and family nearby, too.

It's harder if I am the trailing spouse, as has been the case a couple of times. My most recent move has been the hardest ever in terms of adapting, so I can't say I have a bunch of wisdom to share at this time. You'd think I would be a pro by now, but every move is different.

[badger]

In my life I've had 2 very major moves that affected me quite badly. They were as a child of 10 and 15. Not knowning more than a few words of English, it was really hard to just be plunked into a regular grade 5 class (no ESL classes in that town), it was sink or swim, and I learned to swim pretty quickly. I had integrated myself very well in that town, and by the time my family moved to another province, it broke my heart to have to leave my best friend behind. I would say that experience was far more traumatic than the one at 10.

I went to 6 different schools between grades 1-12. I would say it really affected my ability to make friends. By the time I got to highschool, I had pretty much just given up; it was so hard to keep making and losing friends.

Since graduating highschool, I haven't moved to another city or country but have moved residences no less than 11 times. During my 3 years in university (1st year was spent at home), I moved 8 times.

I've been in the same place for the past 8 years, but will likely move again in a few years, hopefully to a nice house.

[Catrin]

Since I was 18 I have moved a lot! Just mentioning the states (and one Canadian province) in order, I am from Tennessee, have lived in Nebraska, Kentucky, Wisconsin, British Columbia, West Virgina, Oklahoma, back to Tennessee and, currently, Indiana! Most of that was between age 18 and 28.

I am now 50 and since age 28 I've only lived in Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee, eventually moved to Indiana for graduate school and wound up staying here when I found work.


Whewww and now I am stressing over my first move to a new apartment in 6 years, go figure :o

[Crankin]

I know you said after HS, but my first move was the most devastating. I moved from MA (a very nice close in suburb of Boston) where it was suburban, but I could still play in the woods, yet I was also just 6 miles from Boston, when I was 15. We moved to the Kendall area of Miami. It sucked. I made friends, but culturally, I was like like a fish out of water. I went from protesting on the Boston Common to girls worrying about sororities. Basically stayed there until my senior year of college, when illness forced me to take a semester off and join my parents who had moved to Scottsdale after I graduated. After that, I had a brief, 3 month stay in suburban Philadelphia (don't ask), when I went back to AZ and stayed until June 1990 (15 years). When I lived in AZ, I lived in Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, and Tempe, all suburbs that blend into each other. My last 9 years were in south Tempe, s/o Elliot, between McClintock and Rural (I love saying that... no one here gives directions by, well direction).
In 1986 we took a vacation to the Cape, for a family reunion. Within 2 days DH and i had decided to move back east (he grew up in Philadelphia). We set a target date of June 1, 1990 and we got on the plane on June 5th, 1990. When we came back from that trip, DH got a job with a company based here and then was able to transfer. I spent 2-3 years fighting to get my teaching license, which I did.
Since moving here, I have lived in 3 towns, all northwest of Boston. The first one sucked, but it was what we could afford and it was pretty. The second one was where we really wanted to live and have our kids go to school. We would have stayed there forever, but when DS #2 quit college to join the Marines, we took his college $ and sort of impulsively bought the house we are in now. I never thought I'd be living in Concord, but I love my house and having more shopping, and it's much closer to Boston. The town, well, I could take it or leave it. Because I moved basically, from the town next door (well, really 2 towns away, but the schools are regionalized), I didn't change my friends, stores, dr., etc, and I really feel no connection to Concord.
I expect to stay in MA for the rest of my life. Some of my friends are making plans to move to warmer climes in the next ten years, but I love it here, I like winter sports and I would rather travel and come home to a place that I love. And it doesn't hurt that I have friends in AZ and family in San Diego.

[malkin]

I was born in Berkeley, CA and my family lived in the SF bay area for a while after that. My dad's sales territory was changed to Salt Lake City for a year or two, and we moved to Southern CA where I lived through high school. After that:
Study abroad: France
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
Study abroad: Norway
UC Santa Barbara
crazy life in San Diego County
move to Salt Lake City. Been here for 20 years, still believe that it is possible to go someplace else.

[jessmarimba]

Richmond & Charlottesville VA, Nashville, Lebanon, & Murfreesboro TN, Albany GA, Naples FL, Charleston, Columbia, and Hilton Head SC, back to Richmond, and now Denver.

I worked as an archaeology field tech for awhile so I moved a lot but I only counted the long-term projects in these cities.

[jessmarimba]

Oh, and as far as adjusting...I'm awful at making new friends in new cities. With the archaeology work I didn't have to, just hung out with coworkers, but I've hardly met anyone in Denver. I sign up for tons of meetup groups and join all sorts of group activities but seem to only meet stalker guys and snooty older women. I pretty much spend a lot of time trying to convince everyone I know to move where I live :)

[shootingstar]

Well, jesse I met engineers who lived and worked world-wide for 20 years of their career and it's not over for most of them. They would live half a year up to 5 yrs. in the city/country of each construction engineering project.

Some people thrive on living for a few years in foreign locations or different cities. For me, the novelty would wear off after 3rd or 4th job-related move.

Badger- I can imagine how tough it was as ESL student in gr. 5. It was tough enough when I was ESL student starting in kindergarten. My knowledge of English was zero. I grew up in a completely Chinese-speaking environment until kindergarten --in CANADA. This is why I don't feel totally cocooned as a Canadian-born, even though I was born/lived in Canada all my life so far. My experience of learning English mirrors an immigrant. However unlike you, I did cultivate a handful of good friends.

Hard on kids, to move around often.

Crankin- I lost count of your moves. :D Yea, it's nice when friends and family in nice places...to visit.

Catrin- I dislike packing, moving. I'm a lazy bum-- all that effort!
----------------------------------------------------------

If I include childhood, then I've lived just in Canada in 5 cities/towns and 2 provinces.

[bmccasland]

Let's start this off with saying that I was born and raised a military brat. My Dad was career US Air Force. I didn't go away to college (university), home left.
So if we use that as the starting point...

I graduated from university in Tucson, Arizona while my parents moved to Austin, TX. I never considered Austin "home" that was where my parents lived. I lived in Tucson a total of 6.5 years (starting with the last 2 yrs of HS). Counting my parent's house, dorms, and apartments - I had 4 different addresses.
Phoenix, AZ - 4 different addresses in 10 years (said "I do" and "I don't")
Flagstaff, AZ - slightly less than 1 year
Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery, White Mountain Apache Reservation (in the mountains of eastern AZ) - 5 years
Anderson, CA - 3 years (far northern CA, which is culturally different than the rest of the state)
New Orleans, LA - well the suburbs - 8 years
Seattle, WA - 11 days so far :p

Since I grew up moving - I've only had two stints my entire life at 8 years the same address, two stints of 5 years at the same address, and everything else has been less than that - I guess I don't know how to stay. Military kids learn to make friends fast, and don't really sweat it if you don't get along with someone as one of you will be moving away fairly soon. I wouldn't say relationships are shallow, more like hard and fast. We've been the subject of multiple studies. :rolleyes: We also have high divorce rates because we don't really know how to "sit, stay".

In general, I tend to be a loaner, have long ago learned how to amuse myself. If someone wants to come along, that's great, but I do tend to forget to invite others. :o

[Crankin]

Funny, Shooting Star, I don't consider myself as someone who has moved as much as say, Beth. Although I have lived in 4 states (one very briefly), most of my moves were just local moves, from one town next to another. There wasn't really a change in lifestyle from those.
Like Beth, my parents moved and I stayed on in college, for 3 years. Then my parents moved to San Diego, right when I met my DH. Though I have never considered it my home, I have spent a lot of time there, as now my dad and brother are still there (since 1979) and one son and DIL live there, too.
While I am very happy I came back to MA, I am also happy that I have the perspective of someone who has lived in other parts of the country. New Englanders are very provincial and moving when I was 15 cured me of that!

[emily_in_nc]

Since HS I've lived in North Carolina (Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham, Hillsborough, Efland, and now back in Chapel Hill) with brief stints in Florida (Lake Mary), Ohio (New Philadelphia), and Wisconsin (Richland Center). The longest we've ever lived in one house is 10 years, then 6, then the rest less than that. Now we're in an apartment and plotting our next move -- to Belize! :D

[SheFly]

I went to 6 different schools between grades 1-12. I would say it really affected my ability to make friends. By the time I got to highschool, I had pretty much just given up; it was so hard to keep making and losing friends.

That's nothing, Badger! From Kindergarden through the 8th grade, I was in 14 different schools. Stayed in the same high school all through, despite moving at least three or four times.

By the time I was 30, I had moved 30 times. Mostly southwestern Ontario (Mississauga, Cambridge, Waterloo, Kitchener), but also Calgary and Edmonton.

Fifteen years ago, I moved to the US. I have moved 3 times since being here, but have lived in our current house for 14 years - the longest I have EVER lived ANYWHERE, by triple! I have told my DH that the only way I am leaving this house is in a pine box :D.

I think moving so much certainly impacted who I am. I make friends easily (despite telling my parents in the 3rd grade that I was never making friends again), and am far from awkward in any social situations. Unfortunately,, my younger brother was impacted more negatively by all the moving...

And no - we weren't a military family!

SheFly

[marni]

In the US I have lived in New Mexico, California, Utah, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Texas. Overseas I haved lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Oman, the Netherlands again, Belgium again,and finally, the Netherlands again.

I am married to a mechanical engineer in the oil and petroleum industry. He has also lived in Saudi, Korea and Doha while I was in the Netherlands keeping the kids in school and centralized.

I imagine a military wife might move more often, but they often have the advantage of a support group of people in a similar situation instead of being thrown out onto the economy and social structure of a new environment every time.

It's been interesting all the way around.

[shootingstar]

Hey SheFly, easy does it.

Remember, you did not have to learn English in Gr. 5, etc. Any child immigrating to North America from non-English speaking countries, has a serious challenge in learning a language that the dominant culture mandates/legislates on its citizens.

Badger, were you raised in Japan? I know that you are part Japanese. Or maybe it was somewhere in Europe?
Dearie clearly remembers when he had to learn English when he immigrated from Germany when he was 7.

SheFly, I grew up no English in Kitchener-Waterloo until kindergarten. It was an enormous shock on first day of school. It literally feels like being in a different world.

[MillieNZ]

I was born in England where I stayed until leaving school...... then I packed my backpack and traveled through Europe, North Africa, middle east, southern Asia. I then lived in Australia for a while (struggled with the amount of snakes :o) before moving to New Zealand where i stayed for 14 years.

In March we moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. Whilst it's privileged to live here, I don't see us staying here forever.... the cost of living is horrendous ! the cycling is so-so, thankfully there's nice social group.

I suspect our next move in a couple of year time will be to west coast USA, anywhere between San Diego to Portland (DH is open ocean scientist)

I enjoy living in different places and seem to make friends reasonably easy......although if we have children then a little more stability would probably be better.

[badger]

yeah, it was a move from Japan. I handled that move much more in stride than my brother who's 4 years older and started out in ESL. It really set him back in terms of learning english, whereas I really had to speak it to survive, and kids are resilient so I actually did quite well. I had loads of friends by the time we left 5 years later. That move scarred me far more than that initial move.

I was talking with a highschool teacher and he was saying that home-grown ESL is quite rampant these days in that kids who are actually born in Canada manage to go through 12 years of school being ESL. Their English is so bad they barely pass English. They only speak Chinese at home, and at school only hang out with other Chinese kids speaking no English, and avoid making any eye contact with teachers who may ask them something in class. That's the only time they actually speak English.

[SheFly]

Hey SheFly, easy does it.

Remember, you did not have to learn English in Gr. 5, etc. Any child immigrating to North America from non-English speaking countries, has a serious challenge in learning a language that the dominant culture mandates/legislates on its citizens.

My apologies. I in no way meant to diminish Badger's experience of moving, changing schools, and having the experience of moving to an English-speaking country.

SheFly

[shootingstar]

Moving around is tough on kids, no matter how resilient some kids are.

Badger: that situation of home-grown ESL would be obviously be in only a few places in Canada where there are alot of Chinese-speaking folks.

I suppose it's one "advantage" of growing up in other areas in North America where there are less same language-speaking folks, but still ESL support within the school system. Also depends on the home environment: my father taught himself English. He had no time to take classes with job and big family. He really did make sure we ramped up our language skills. And a big part of that for myself: is reading books that a child chooses, not the parent. There are several miracle stories within my extended family of children struggling to learn new language and put back 2 grades. Then eventually the children do make it and completed university. It requires vigilant, supportive parents as well as some good teachers.

Marnie: You are resilient. Engineering projects....isn't like being in the foreign/diplomatic service, where there are many planned social events in local/host country to involve the temporary employees and their spouses/families and jumpstart the acculturation process.

One U.K. engineer used to tell about his Hong Kong Chinese-born wife who got into cycling their 2 children to daycare in Vancouver during his 2 yr. work stint with us. I think it was a way for her to get out and explore. By the way, she didn't make hardly any local friendships even though Vancouver area has a huge population with shared/similar backgrounds. She hated Vancouver because of our fall-winter rains.

[GLC1968]

I've had experiences similiar to a lot of the moving gals. In fact, while I was not a military brat, most of my friends were because we could relate to each other. 10 schools by 10th grade - two highschools, 3 colleges. I've never lived anywhere (ever) for more than 3 years except for having spent 7 in the Tampa area of FL. Just to make that bareable, in those 7 years I had two careers, two majors and 7 addresses...so it wasn't like I was settled!

But, to answer the original question, I've moved 14 times since graduating highschool (not counting relocating for college). Some of those moves were within the same general area and others were across the country. When I got my security clearance at one of my jobs, it was a serious challenge for me to recall all my addresses in the previous 10 years. :p

I'm good at moving. I enjoy it. It's an adventure to me. It's also all I've ever known. I cannot imagine growing up in one house or living in one place my whole life. Moving as a child was really hard. Moving as a HS student really, really, really sucked (english speaking or not - it SUCKS being the new kid as a fragile teenager and entering a school system where the kids have all been together since kindergarten!!) That was by far, the worst. As an adult, it's easier to adjust to a new place, but it's much harder to make new friends. I've gotten good at being very open and trusting. Yes, I get hurt...but whatever. Honestly, I think having been such a rolling stone as a child, it taught me to not bother holding onto emotional baggage. I just let it go and move on. Moving all the time has also kept my family close (not geographically, but emotionally).

I also have friends in just about every major city and metropolitan area across the country. :)

[sfa]

Since high school I've lived in Washington, DC, Winston-Salem, NC, and in three locations in the Baltimore area. I also spent one year abroad in western Europe, but I was peripatetic so didn't really "live" anywhere. The longest I stayed put was four weeks in Verona, otherwise it was just a day or so at each location.

Growing up, I lived in the same house my whole life, the same one my parents still live in. I longed to move anywhere--I loved going new places and getting to know new areas, so I would beg my parents to please, please, please move. I don't know if it would have been so much fun in reality, but I still think one of the most fun things to do is find a new city or town and wander around unfamiliar streets. I'm getting antsy in my current house--we intended it as a starter home and planned to live there for five years, but it's now been 12 years (housing bubble popped up just after we bought) and I spend a lot of time looking at real estate listings, just dreaming of going someplace new.

Sarah

[Jolt]

I haven't done a lot of moving since finishing high school...attended college in the same state but different city, and have stayed in that same city since college (my family did move to NJ my freshman year, but I only spent summers and breaks there so I'm not really counting that). It looks like I will have to move soon though, once I find a job in whichever state that may be; current possibilities in the pipeline are in upstate NY, PA, WI and MN...there are very few possibilities here in MA for a new grad acute care NP (and the ones I do see are in completely different parts of the state anyway, so would still require a move). Actually, not a whole lot in New England in general (bummer...I wouldn't mind being in NH or VT at all!). Looking forward to starting to practice but nervous about having to start over in an entirely new place. As far as before high school, I did have to move a few times as a kid: born in SF bay area, lived in VA for a few years, then moved to MA and lived in two different towns (right next to each other, but still required changing schools in 6th grade which was not fun) before college. Hopefully when I have kids someday I won't have to put them through moving and changing schools...in my experience, that sucked; I got picked on a lot and I think coming in as a new kid was part of the reason. Guess I'd better stay away from military guys or others who have to move around for work; heck, even without kids in the picture I still don't want to be forced to move around! I'd much rather find a place I like and stick around; I can still travel and see other places on vacation etc. but then come back to something familiar.

[TsPoet]

Santa Fe New Mexico, Boulder Colorado, Tucson Arizona, Chapel Hill North Carolina, and Richland Washington.
Took me 5 years to start liking it here. Now I love it. I didn't love it anywhere else, but 5 years was as long as I lived in any of those places. I loved Santa Fe, but I grew up there.
North Carolina was the worst. The personalities of the communities in NM, Co, and AZ were all so similar there wasn't a culture shock moving between them. The scenery in all of the Western states is similar, I hated all those claustrophobic trees in NC.
The culture shock and lack of space in NC was mind boggling. I had to get back west.

[shootingstar]

Interesting TSPoet, on your need for visual spaciousness.

When I moved to Toronto, the first year I had to get used to just houses and buildings located more closely together. I lived there for 2 decades in 2 different neighbourhoods.

But later, enjoyed what the city offered in close proximity in terms of transportation options, services, cultural activities, compared to the suburbs or other cities that are sprawl and have less highrises, etc.

I like little quiet residential side streets running 1 kms. or less from a downtown corridor..but not so far out that I can't get there to enjoy city life.

When I worked out in the suburbs here in Metro Vancouver outside of downtown Vancouver, I hated it. Just way too sprawly and isolating. No sidewalks to walk safely to worksite.

From another engineer, who was Canadian and who returned to Vancouver after working abroad in Asia for a decade, he bought a house for his family in the Metro Vancouver 'burbs. They like the house, but his wife disliked having to drive all over the place just to do simple errands, shopping, etc. She lived a chunk of her life in Hong Kong and Taipei before immigrating to Canada. They now live near busy arterial roads, not conducive to cycling nor walking.

[shootingstar]

I'm getting antsy in my current house--we intended it as a starter home and planned to live there for five years, but it's now been 12 years (housing bubble popped up just after we bought) and I spend a lot of time looking at real estate listings, just dreaming of going someplace new.

Sarah


Well, change for the sake of change is not terrible if there are other compelling, long-term reasons also. Just be grateful if you have liked your neighbourhood for a long time.

A person's mental health and safety, can be affected by where they choose to live.

[Jolt]

North Carolina was the worst. The personalities of the communities in NM, Co, and AZ were all so similar there wasn't a culture shock moving between them. The scenery in all of the Western states is similar, I hated all those claustrophobic trees in NC.
The culture shock and lack of space in NC was mind boggling. I had to get back west.

Interesting that you say that about the trees...I have relatives in Montana who say the same thing when they come east to visit. For me it would be weird to not have a lot of trees around since I'm used to living in New England.

[Crankin]

Yep, I felt the same way. Everything in the west seemed brown to me. When I lived there, and I came back east, the greenness was so "real." I came to appreciate the beauty of the west, but since living in Phoenix is just living in endless stucco/suburban sprawl, I rarely got to see the "real" west. It was there when I moved to AZ, but disappeared shortly thereafter. That's why we left.
One of the saddest things I have on videotape is my 2 and 4 year old kids playing in the foundation plants of my house in Tempe, saying, "We're in the woods!" I think you can hear me say in the background, "I am outta here!"

[sfa]

On one of my trips to the midwest I was in the middle of taking a photography course, so I got a photo of the landscape near my grandmother's home--empty field on the lower half (it was November), sky on the upper half, farm house dead center. My professor hated the photo--said the composition was dull and empty. My mother loved the photo--she said she misses that view so much, so she had me enlarge the photo and frame it.

I can appreciate the beauty of different landscapes, but I don't think I could live without trees.

Sarah

[Roadtrip]

We moved around a bit growing up, but not at much as some here, tho I still remember not really putting down "roots" any one place and finding it really hard to make friends. There were times when I found friends or someone I really clicked with and BAM it was time to move again.

From the time I started school and from the time I graduated HS, we moved nine times to seven different cities. I left home and am my third place and second city, but have lived in the same town for nearly ten years now, so pretty sure there are roots holding me here now!!

I think it has more to do with personality then location. I was/am a bit of an introvert and shy. I have to force myself to come out of my hobbit hole and interact with the world... DO things... which has been my Achilles Heel and reason I'm overweight and out of shape.

Too "easy" to give in to my inner hobbit and just stay in my comfort zone. Something I'm always fighting and will likely always battle, but the bike is helping a lot, that I'm happy about!

Shannon

[badger]

On one of my trips to the midwest I was in the middle of taking a photography course, so I got a photo of the landscape near my grandmother's home--empty field on the lower half (it was November), sky on the upper half, farm house dead center. My professor hated the photo--said the composition was dull and empty. My mother loved the photo--she said she misses that view so much, so she had me enlarge the photo and frame it.

I can appreciate the beauty of different landscapes, but I don't think I could live without trees.

Sarah

I'm curious to see this picture - do you have one small enough to upload here?

***

and it's funny how some people associate the west as "brown". There's nothing brown around here in the pacific northwest!!

[GLC1968]

One of the saddest things I have on videotape is my 2 and 4 year old kids playing in the foundation plants of my house in Tempe, saying, "We're in the woods!" I think you can hear me say in the background, "I am outta here!"

This totally made me LOL! I'd have thought/said the same thing.

In fact, when I moved to NC, at first I felt it was too brown and barren! I grew up in New England, Michigan and Wisconsin...so I'm used to trees. A lot of the Greensboro, NC area is farmland, so it felt really barren to me. It wasn't until I got a chance to visit the NC mountains that I felt the beauty of the state.

As we drove from NC to Oregon (in February, mind you), I was constantly amazed at the changing landscape. We live in a VERY big country here! The west was amazing - and felt very foriegn and kind of 'powerful' to me (not sure that's the right word, but it'll do for now). I enjoyed seeing it, but it wasn't until we passed thorugh the Columbia River Gorge that I started to feel 'at home'. I think that's why I love it here in the western part of Oregon. I get the big trees and green forested areas like I grew up with, rolling hills, small farms, mountain views, etc...(oh and rocky beach shorelines)...but I also get the western laid back attitude that I'm learning to love. It's like the best of both coasts all rolled into one!

[Atlas]

I've never lived outside the state of Iowa. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. I did move to Iowa City for a brief time in college, but came back to central Iowa and finished in Ames. My sister lives up the street from my parents and my brother is 20 minutes away. At 20 miles, I live the farthest from my them. My partner and I are ready to get out of here. Iowa is my favorite place in the world, but I feel like I need to live somewhere else and not just travel to other places.

[shootingstar]

and it's funny how some people associate the west as "brown". There's nothing brown around here in the pacific northwest!!

Maybe some folks are talking about the western areas with rolling, drier hills like what we have in the interior British Columbia...400 kms. inland from the coast...where it's near desert or at least the hills are hardly green.

Even western Canada includes the flat prairies, or foothills before Rocky Mountains rise.

Agree with GLC, North America is frickin' huge and diverse. It never ceases to amaze whenever I travel several thousand kms. across Canada. Somehow living in such huge countries, culturally and psychologically, gives some of us the sense of unlimited opportunities for life changes, etc. without switching languages as one would need to, in Europe.

I do mean my last sentence quite seriously. It has been one of the reasons and still is for some people, why people immigrate to North America: freedom to live where they want, lots of choice in terms of lifestyle, less national borders/less hassle in big space.

Except some people really refuse to travel/explore/learn outside their small region within their state/province.

You know what I mean? :rolleyes:

[badger]

well, of course, the whole continent has such a diverse geography you can't just say "west is brown", and "east is green". It's like anything else in life, you can't just paint the whole picture with one big brush.

[sfa]

I'm curious to see this picture - do you have one small enough to upload here?



I took the photo in 1988 (and with black and white film, no less--really old school!), so I don't have a digital version of it. If my mother still has it around, I could probably scan it in. She's out of the country for the next week or so, though, so it'll take a while.

Sarah

[Crankin]

When I was talking about the west being brown, I was really referring to the ugly suburban sprawl in cities like Phoenix, LA, Dallas, Las Vegas. Maybe I should have said southwest. I have been enough places in AZ and Colorado to have seen the really beautiful and unique places in the west; however, I did not live in one of them!
I want to visit the northwest. I think I would like it.

[Irulan]

what is the length cut off? I spent some time in my errant early adulthood moving/working seasonally, and then with DH in the oil field...

Born Chicago, Ill
Grew up East Bay Area age 16 moved out...
then...
Season in Miami
Sierra Foothills
Golden/Evergreen Colorado
Casper Wyoming
Powell Wyoming
Back to the Bay Area
Eastern WA for 20 years now.

[tulip]

Before high school, I lived in seven cities in four states in the US; some repeats; some different houses/apartments in the same city. I stayed put in high school. Since then (25 years), I've lived in eight cities in two countries, some of those I moved back to several times, so it really is more like 11 or 12 moves in the last 25 years.

[shootingstar]

When I was talking about the west being brown, I was really referring to the ugly suburban sprawl in cities like Phoenix, LA, Dallas, Las Vegas. ...........................I want to visit the northwest. I think I would like it.


Methinks that's part of the problem with the flatter areas inland and some of their suburbs. In other cities, at least some of the suburbs include mountains in a distance, greenspace or rolling hills.

[malkin]

The brown discussion has me singing that Kate Wolf song:

Here in California, the fruit hangs heavy on the vine,
And there's no gold, I thought I'd warn ya,
And the hills turn brown in summertime.

[badger]

ha, I never knew there was a singer by that name, that's my niece's name!

[Owlie]

I'm boring. I lived in Cincinnati from the age of 4 on, then Cleveland for college and stayed there. I'll be moving for grad school, though in what direction and what state, I won't know until March or April.

I'm considering Tuscon for grad school. While I like the program, I'm not sure I could handle the landscape. I need trees and grass.

[Irulan]

One of the cool things about living different places is learning how to appreciate different landscapes.

[tulip]

One of the cool things about living different places is learning how to appreciate different landscapes.

Most definitely. And people and cultures and food and languages and accents...

[bmccasland]

I'm considering Tuscon for grad school. While I like the program, I'm not sure I could handle the landscape. I need trees and grass.

There are grass and trees on UA campus. ;) And not even counting the palm trees! Little known fact is it's a tree botanical garden. Look for the Monkey Puzzle and the Ginko trees. (I'm a UA College of Agricultre alumnus) Wanna know where the Bay Laurel is? :D

And go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on the west side of the Tucson Mountains for an appreciation of the desert flora and fauna. The Sonoran Desert is the lushest desert in the world because it has two rainy seasons.

[evangundy]

Air Force brat here (Canadian) born in Manitoba, lived on Cdn Airbase and towns in Germany from age 2 to 6, (my bro spoke German before he spoke English), then new school each grade 1, 2, 3, then 3 schools in 4th grade (in 3 different provinces) settling in Red Deer, Alberta, but moving around in town. Different school again in 5th, and different again in 6th and stayed in that home and school district thru 6th, 7th grade. Moved to Penticton BC summer before 8th grade - parents split so moved back to Red Deer (same house, Fall of 8th grade - lived there until leaving home at 18-1/2 - to Penticton, BC, then to Vancouver, BC from 19 - 21 (living in 3 different places there). whew!! At age 21, met my American DH while on vacation in Penticton, and moved here to Portland and have lived in the same house since 1978. I've been told I'm not the norm - same husband, same house, job at same company for 28 years. Left that job for current one in 2007, but still have same husband and live in same house. And over the years we both turned down job offers to move to other towns. We both want to stay here in Portland. We don't want to live anywhere else.

All the moving around when I was younger made me able to make friends easily but I found I did not get too attached, such as "best" friends. Made it easier on me when we moved. Even now, I have lots and lots of good friends, but very few that I confide in and feel extremely close to. I surprised myself when I met and married Dave so quickly. Met in August, married in December after long distance relationship. And it's lasted 33 years so far. Even though I seem to embrace stability now, I enjoy changes. I don't worry or stress about changes, but look for the best way to adapt and make the most out of what's new. In my 28 year job, I worked in 4 different departments, went through 3 different computer systems, and a buyout, new computer system again, a move to a new building on other side of town.

In our marriage, we've done many things - square dancing (how we met), tried skiing a couple years, bowling (for over 20 years now) ballroom dance and country dance lessons, raised dogs (instead of kids), put addition on house, remodeled a couple rooms, painted many times, became cyclists, the list goes on. Change ..... it can be good :-)

Edna