Do you love where you live, or do you live there because have to?
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
United States
January 14, 2017 7:49am CST
That question that popped into my head after reading a post by @sallypup about how cold it is where she lives and her frozen water pipe adventure.
I often wonder why people live where they do. Is it because they have to live there or want to live there? I guess for some if they don't love where they live they can't do much about it for different reasons: family close by, job situation, money, health reasons...they all come into play.
I hate winter, I've said it so many times you'll all heard it. We both hated New Jersey and couldn't wait to get out of that area. We only knew each other six month before we got married and didn't discuss many things until after we were married..one being if we wanted to say in New Jersey and neither of us did.
We are often asked, "Did you move south to be near family?" and I say, "No, we moved south to get away from them." Laugh but it is the truth. There were many issues. My husband has two grown kids, who put me though living heck. Their mom had only been gone a year and they thought things were moving too fast. One lived with us and it was rather unpleasant to say the least.
Family can be one of two things: supportive or non-supportive. His kids were of the non-supportive group. In order for us to lead our own lives and do what would make us happy the best thing was for us to move away.
So we moved to Tennessee because we wanted to and we love it...don't get me wrong there are things we miss (mostly food items) about living 'up North'....
But overall we made the right move and at the end of this month we will celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary and 16 of those years have been in Tennessee. And they thought it would never last!
Photo: pixabay.com/en/tennessee-map-usa-state-flag-890618/
30 people like this
28 responses
@LovingMyBabies (85288)
• Valdosta, Georgia
14 Jan 17
We moved to FL because of a job offer my husband got here. I hate the heat. I was born and raised up North and I miss the food & weather there. But...we have to be where we can support our family so FL is where we will be. =)
6 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85288)
• Valdosta, Georgia
14 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill Oh my goodness your making me hungry! Lol. I miss the buttered rolls, canoli's and pizza too! Plus all of the ones you said as well, I loved going to Diner's!
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
@LovingMyBabies Where are you from? You almost sound like you're from about the same area.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
We miss food more than anything - real bagels and rye bread and good cold cuts and diners!
4 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
14 Jan 17
In my case it us a combination. I originally moved because my place of employment moved and I became fed up with the travelling.
I have not returned to my home town because I have lived here 30 years now and have adjusted to the place.
2 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
14 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill Bolton is hardly recognisable to me these days.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
I wonder if 'you can't go home again' is true. I've am not going to do it just to find out. 30 years in one place is a long time.
1 person likes this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
15 Jan 17
I stay here because I am happy here. I landed here by chance almost 42 years ago, in a town in north Italy, a long wat from home in UK. A few years ago I tested what it would be like to go back to the country I was born in and to the town where I lived my youth. It was a disaster. I was there for a year and I worked there. I couldn't stand the cold dark winter.
Here after living in several different places all locally since I arrived, I have finally found the place that I love and hope to be able to stay here forever. I am in the centre of town but just off the main road, within walking distance to everything but over looking a park. I see the mountains from my window and can be up there in less than half an hour. I can be in a big ciry, Milan or Turin within an hour and at a lake in forty minutes and at the sea in less than two hours.
The weather is not to hot in summer and not too cold for long periods in winter. If I had landed somewhere further south all those years ago I think I might not have stayed as the climate is hotter and the people are madder than they are here.
1 person likes this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
15 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill LOL not mad in the sense of mad mad but more like crazy mad.
They hoot their car horns a lot further south and there are traffic jams because they park in double or even triple rows 
Up they are more erm civilised maybe 
It suits me perfectly here and I am not homesick for UK at all ever 
Up they are more erm civilised maybe
It suits me perfectly here and I am not homesick for UK at all ever @AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
@mysdianait OK, thanks for explaining that. We have crazy people in many regards...so there is a difference. I think you found your place.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
Wow, what a nice share - and I can almost picture where you live. It sounds wonderful....and I don't like mad people either - but there are a lot of them around.
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (37387)
• Toccoa, Georgia
14 Jan 17
I like where we live,,,, (even though sometimes I wouldn't mind living at the beach, but then I think about all the hurricanes that people living on the beach can encounter).
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (37387)
• Toccoa, Georgia
20 Dec
@porwest that is a good plan, eventually being a snowbird.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
That's why we didn't move near the shore. Instead we have to deal with other awful weather incidents.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
In my 69 years I've lived in 16 places in 5 states. Since we moved to TN the longest we lived in one place was 5 years. I love moving!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
@jaboUK We will be in this house 4 years in May and all I think about is how much I would love to move...but I hate the selling process...that's the part that stops me from talking my husband into moving.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
14 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill You're opposite to me then - I hate moving, it's a real hassle.
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
14 Jan 17
I was born and raised in the LA area and still live here. I have grown disenchanted with my native city and state but weather, weather, weather keeps me here.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
You weather is consistently decent, where ours is consistently changing and scary!
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
15 Jan 17
I live in three places all relatively near one another. Relative is a term that depends on traffic - us Filipinos, have to endure with traffic day in and day out. I like where I live - all three places - Makati, Paranaque, and Mandaluyong.
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
16 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill an occasional tractor causing traffic is fine once in a while. To live in perpetual gridlock in the city is altogether a different thing that I do not want to endure! 
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
Traffic - hum, another reason we live in the country - sometimes the tractors do tie up things on the back roads LOL!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
16 Jan 17
@allen0187 the first time I saw a John Deere tractor at traffic light on a major highway I thought I was seeing things!
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (168595)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Jan 17
I love where I live because I love it here. We have all four seasons. Haven't had a hard winter since 1983. I have traveled in the west and south and still like the weather here. And the mountains and so on.
@celticeagle (168595)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill ......I was born on the Naval base in Bremerton, Washington. Came to Boise when I was about six months old. I love it here. Our winters are usually much milder and just right but this year has been something else. I would like to visit the eastern southern states and the eastern states. Doubt I will ever get to though. I would love to see Atlanta and the cherry blossoms. Several other things. Smokies, Ozarks, all of that. It's snowing lightly.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
We have mountains and 4 seasons, but more summer than winter, which is why we live here. Are you originally from that area?
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
16 Jan 17
@celticeagle Atlanta scared me!! The traffic is horrendous !! Of course living in the country two cars on s road scares me .
1 person likes this
@rebelann (113017)
• El Paso, Texas
15 Jan 17
I don't blame you, sometimes friends make better family. So much for blood is thicker than water, right?
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
I don't buy the blood thing at all! I rather pick who I associate with.
2 people like this
@rebelann (113017)
• El Paso, Texas
15 Jan 17
Me either @AbbyGreenhill family always wants you to do what THEY think is right. I don't buy it either.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
16 Jan 17
@rebelann and that won't work since I don't take orders orders!!!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
For 16 years we lived a good life too, partly due to where we live.
1 person likes this
@CookieMonster46 (13454)
• United States
14 Jan 17
If we could move I would, still stay in the same state, but in a much better area and a nice warm house.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
There are parts of this state I surely would never want to reside in.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
16 Jan 17
@CookieMonster46 As Dr. Phil says, no matter how flat you make it every pancake has two sides.
1 person likes this
@CookieMonster46 (13454)
• United States
16 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill , true, I think every state has the good and the bad
@TheHorse (220478)
• Walnut Creek, California
14 Jan 17
I'm not in love with Northern California. Too many people, and the values here in Bay Area suburbia are (mostly) different from mine. I live here because I've established a life here, teaching college, working with kids, and playing music. Sometimes I miss Chicago, Iowa, and Montana, in spite of the cold in those places.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
You have decent weather and thats good right?
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
For a good part of my adult life I lived two miles from my parents, which put a lot of burden on me when there were illnesses to deal with. My sister lived an hour away so she didn't have to help.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
@paigea My sister didn't go out of her way and the excuse was 'she has a kid'...but she could sure drive to my parents' home when she wanted them to do her favors.
@paigea (36315)
• Canada
15 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill My brother lived closer but I drove the 3 hours every weekend for quite a while when my dad needed help.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
15 Jan 17
it's kind of a have to.i hate the cold and the congested north.
but my family's had this house over 100 years now,and it'd be a royal pain in the butt to move.i'd rather be in VA where the rest of my family's at.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
15 Jan 17
Moving is what you make of it. I enjoy moving, always have. I get rather bored living in the same house year after year. I would move in a second if I could get my husband to agree.
1 person likes this
@besweet (9859)
• Ireland
15 Jan 17
I consider myself lucky to have been born in my country. It is my own choice to live here but I think I might have to relocate to another country soon due to the economic crisis over here. I miss my parents but my priority is to have a better life and be bale to provide the same for my future family.
@besweet (9859)
• Ireland
16 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill Yes probably. Many of my friends have already left the country.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
16 Jan 17
I guess others there may be thinking the same.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
14 Jan 17
I am here because I have to be atm, but I dont mind this area, If I could though, I'd live closer to KC and friends
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
I thought you would have said someplace warmer!
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
14 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill warmer places have horrible summers, I guess I need a winter place in the south and a summer place in the north
@Marilynda1225 (83156)
• United States
14 Jan 17
I liked living in New York but mainly stayed because I was born there and raised my children there. As my children married and moved away to Pennsylvania I decided to follow them when I retired. Great decision on my part as I love the slower pace of life and the country atmosphere, Like you, I do miss the food from NY but not much else.
@Marilynda1225 (83156)
• United States
14 Jan 17
@AbbyGreenhill if they move Jersey I hope they come through Pa so I can capitalise on some good eats too
@Daljinder (23236)
• Bangalore, India
14 Jan 17
In answer ti the title: I don't love where I live. I don't even like it. I live here because I have to.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
Thank you. We also moved from metro-city to boonies...its not always easy but far better for us than city life.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
14 Jan 17
@sugartoes The problem is the stores are a hike! To a half decent grocery store it is 30 mins and to a decent stores it's an hour or longer. Decent grocery stores I miss!
@GardenGerty (161010)
• United States
15 Jan 17
@sugartoes Hubby works in town, but we are really in the boonies. I like the life mostly, but when transportation is not working I get to feeling isolated.
