How Many Times Have You Relocated? Or Have You Never Relocated?
By Terri Doss
@gtdoss (1013)
United States
August 28, 2022 2:26pm CST
My grandmother once told me that by the time I was 5 years old, my family had relocated to different homes 14 times. My father was a carpenter by trade, so we moved every time he had a new job.
By the time I was 8 years old, my mom, stepfather, and brother had moved into a house in a suburb of Chicago. We ended up staying there for 9 years. That is really the first place I lived that I have a concrete memory of.
When I was 17, my mom and stepfather got divorced, and we moved to stay with my grandmother in Florida. But my mom and stepfather ended up getting back together, and we all moved to Georgia, where I have been ever since.
I lived in 7 or 8 different places in Georgia while I was still single, but I now have lived in my current married home for 26 years! I think about how different it has been for my sons. They have lived in exactly one place since they were born!
How about you? Have you lived in a few different homes/locations, many different homes/locations, or have you been living in the same exact place your whole life?
Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay
25 people like this
24 responses
@LeaPea2417 (37351)
• Toccoa, Georgia
28 Aug 22
6 times. The last time I have stayed put. My husband and I have lived in the house we live in for 31 years.
5 people like this
@DaddyEvil (137257)
• United States
29 Aug 22
My mother bought a farm when she and dad got married. She used money gifted to her by her parents as a wedding gift to buy the farm. Mom owned the farm for 30 something off years until my dad passed away and mom wanted to move into the nearby city. I was 18 when she traded the farm for a house in the city. Since then, I have owned three different houses and raised my daughter in the last house we had until four years ago. We moved into this house at that time.
I hate moving and hope never to need to move again.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (137257)
• United States
29 Aug 22
@gtdoss I'm sure there are better houses out there if we looked, but this one suits us fine.
2 people like this
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
28 Aug 22
If you don't mind me asking, what state did you live in in the United States?
@DevMrSamEleazar (14058)
• Philippines
28 Aug 22
@gtdoss just in same country. just cities.
1 person likes this
@pumpkinjam (8763)
• United Kingdom
29 Aug 22
I've only ever lived in one town but I have moved a few times within the town, and that's only ever been through necessity rather than choice. It's not many times compared to some but I have lived in 6 different homes (one of them, which is still my parents' home, twice - well, three times but the third was temporary while we got a placed fixed up after a fire). I only moved once as a child (from my first childhood home to the house where my parents still live).
My youngest son has lived in four of those places with me while my eldest has lived in five (he's also lived in other places - once with his dad, and is about to move into his fourth in 4 years as a student).
I wanted my children to have a 'forever' home and be settled. Where we are now was going to be exactly that. Apart from my childhood home, it's the place I've stayed the longest. My youngest was 9 when we moved here, he's now 17 so has really grown up here. I wouldn't say that so much of my eldest as he was 14 when we moved here, moved to his dad's 2 years later as it was nearer to college, then moved away to university another 2 years after that!
My husband has most likely lost count of the places he's lived. He's lived all over the world and would like to move to the coast. If we do that, it will be our forever home!
1 person likes this
@pumpkinjam (8763)
• United Kingdom
29 Aug 22
@gtdoss it is somewhat a scary thought for me having only ever lived in one place! If we do manage it, at least it will be through choice this time.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (61088)
• Centralia, Washington
28 Aug 22
Money talks loudly when it comes to moving. I've moved so many times I feel like I'm an Army brat. I'd love to live on the little farm where I started life but the house was razed and the community grew tons too large for me. I guess I moved once when I lived in university dorms, Daughter was born and that started a series of moving due to little money and landlords saying we had a kid and needed more than the one bedroom apartment that we could afford. On and on. One time we spent two years in backwoods Idaho. Finally here we are at retirement and we are done with real estate. This old house will have to put up with us two oldsters.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (61088)
• Centralia, Washington
29 Aug 22
@gtdoss Your grandparents place reminds of the farm where I spent my first years. The last time my sister visited with me, she was looking at old photos. She commented on all the cow pictures! I pointed to an orange cow- a Guernsey- and asked if she didn't remember Lisa?? Lisa was the elderly milk cow that my Dad bought off a butcher. Sweet old gal.
1 person likes this
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
28 Aug 22
Well, I'm glad you are able to put down stakes in your retirement years. My grandparents had an old farm house where they had a dairy business when I was just a kid. It was sold long, long ago, but I would love to be able to visit it out of nostalgia. I have since found out that the whole thing was razed and is some other kind of business now. Kind of makes me sad, but not much lasts forever.
1 person likes this
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
29 Aug 22
Oh, the nostalgia! My grandparents' house smelled mostly like her baking (delicious sweets!) and the Lifebuoy soap she used. Now when I smell Lifebuoy soap, I'm immediately transported to my grandparents home! They say that your olfactory senses carry some of your oldest memories, and that's definitely true for me!
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
28 Aug 22
Maybe it is me, LOL! That was the bad thing about moving so much: I really made and lost a lot of friends along the way. BTW, we waited and waited for you, but you never showed up Saturday for the homemade sushi! It was delicious! Maybe next time, LOL!
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (87806)
• Bangalore, India
29 Aug 22
I have done it all my life and even more after my marriage. I stayed in different countries and different continents. My current home is the one where I have stayed the longest. We moved here in 2015 and I have no plans to shift from here. I just love this house. Even my husband doesn't plan to travel for long term any more.
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (87806)
• Bangalore, India
29 Aug 22
@gtdoss We hope that too..at least for the next ten years we have no plans to move. That's why we are getting it renovated and the work is currently going on. We might move to our retirement home later. Even this home is quite good for retirement.
1 person likes this
@cabuyogty (3025)
• Philippines
29 Aug 22
I'm glad that you can relocate today . I didnt relocate today but i hope i can make it in the future with myself alone and for real
1 person likes this
@cabuyogty (3025)
• Philippines
30 Aug 22
@gtdoss Thank you. I think i will do that in the future .
1 person likes this
@Beestring (14554)
• Hong Kong
29 Aug 22
Four times. I've lived in my current place for more than ten years.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (14554)
• Hong Kong
29 Aug 22
@gtdoss Yes, I own this apartment. It's pretty small but it's in a convenient location.
1 person likes this
@clrumfelt (5490)
• United States
29 Aug 22
8 different houses growing up. 3 since I got married.
1 person likes this
@clrumfelt (5490)
• United States
29 Aug 22
@gtdoss I will be a new experience for them when they get their own place and have to set up housekeeping. It's true, you'll probably get a lot of phone calls.
1 person likes this
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
29 Aug 22
I think this is true of many of the people who responded to this post. My sons are going to go into shock when they someday live somewhere other than our family home! They've both lived in dorms and apartments on their college campuses, but they've never really lived in a different home yet. I feel like my husband and I will be getting many, many phone calls from them when they do, LOL!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
29 Aug 22
My parents moved twice when I was living with them, from an apartment to a house to a larger house, all in the Los Angeles area. I lived in two apartments and two houses in LA before I moved to northern California. After my divorce, I moved once more. I'm still in northern California, just outside of Sacramento. Also, I lived in Germany one year in college.
1 person likes this
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
29 Aug 22
Oh, I would love to go to Germany! You sound like a California lady through and through!
@AliCanary (3239)
•
28 Aug 22
Hm. I was born in Maryland and my family moved to West Virginia when I was 11 months old. I stayed at that address until I left for college at in Philadelphia at 17. Started off in the freshman dorm and then moved to the upperclass dorm for the next three years. After freshman year, I returned to my home in WV for the summer, but I found that very boring, so the next summer, I rented a room in a fraternity house, and I did that again at a different fraternity house the summer after.
In my senior year, I took my own apartment for the last semester. My (future) husband joined me there, but it was teeny, so we moved into a larger unit in the same building. We stayed there until after we got married and returned from our honeymoon (my parents came to stay at our apartment and take care of our cats while we spent three weeks in Japan--so we got a vacation, and so did they!)
Once we returned, we entered the next phase of our relationship - settling down. We relocated to North Carolina and rented an apartment while looking for a home to buy. We bought our starter home and lived there for four years until we could afford a larger place. That's where we still live, and like you, it's been a good while--27 years, as of July.
So, Maryland - 1, West Virginia - 1, Philadelphia - 6, North Carolina - 3. 11, total. However, since technically neither the dorms nor the summer room rentals really counted as a "permanent address" (that would have been my parents' house), I could possibly reduce that number from 6 to 2 - my two apartments. That would make 7.
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (3239)
•
2 Sep 22
@gtdoss it was really memorable! I've actually shared some old pics and posted about it a little here on MyLot. Here's a pic of me at the fox shrine in Utsunomiya.
@gtdoss (1013)
• United States
29 Aug 22
So you're like my sons, the same home all throughout childhood (and into their 20s!)