[JGatti]

First let me say I am almost 43, lived in Michigan my entire life. Grew up in Southfield but have moved several times. Have made my home in Highland for the past ten years.

I realized the other day that for whatever reason my new hometown and even my old hometown has never really felt like home to me. While I was younger I knew I had no desire to live in Southfield. My sights were always on something else, somewhere else. Now even though Highland offers most of what I have always thought I wanted, open land, less traffic/people etc. It still does not feel like home. I still find myself looking for a or the place to move and spend the rest of my life. Anymore I'm not even sure where that is.

Looking back on my parents generation, at least in my family. They all seemed to take root in one place and remain there until very late in their lives. Some even died in their homes. Is it me or is it my generation that for whatever reason can't find their place to call home? I fear if I ever do.....it won't last. Anyone my age out there feel this way?

[michmoldman]

I have lived in basically the same area for 44 years, just a few miles difference in that time. I really like where I live, but I feel the same way. I do not have a desire to move out of state, but I want badly to move north. The area I live has everything we need all within a few minutes, but I feel totally at home when I am up north. I love the woods, the big waters and tons of lakes within reach. I have a very bad desire to live near or in the woods...not sure why, maybe because I love to watch the animals, go for walks, and just the peacefulness of the north country . I know when I can move up north somewhere...preferably near TC... I will be completely happy!

[zthatzmanz28]

My wife and I both lived in the areas we grew up in (within 15 miles) and really wanted that "home-town" environment. We wanted that to be where our first house together was(Redford)...but seems we were both fooling ourselves. There was a thin thread of home-town quality, but we tried to build on that.

In the end, we realized we could not make something into our home-town, and we may never really feel that (if we ever did) in any one place. Many folks have become shallow and self-involved and have difficulties interacting with neighbors in a supportive way.

We even watched our neighborhood begin to crumble in 2005 from the economic implosion.

When we moved in the community in 2003, all we heard was hammers and saws, houses being restored / remodeled.

By 2005, the for sale signs started showing up, and one by one all the "new" neighbors were forced out--generally via foreclosure--and the neighborhood was left with all the original families (about 6 or so).

The activities that were scheduled by the township were slowly cancelled, people stopped meeting at the yard sales and just stayed at home in the backyard.

Of the most recent residents to have moved in, we were one of the last ones to leave.

It was rather surreal, as when we moved in, many of the neighbors came by to see the "new" people--when we left, NO ONE came over to ask what / why / how?

We are not sure why the home-town environment is so elusive. We are pretty sure that it might be related to the idea that our generation (late boomers 1955--1960s) are now learning to survive without the "stuff" and the need to be rooted?

Home is where the heart is (and employment) and it can even follow along in the Holiday Rambler travel trailer if need be...

[JGatti]

I wonder if a big part if it is that I seek an area my kids can have the kind of childhood I had. Before Southfield boomed there was a lot of open area, and even though like where I live now we had no sidewalks there was always a way for us to get around the city. Whether it be side streets or trails through the woods it was a fun place to grow up. But after I grew and it grew I lost my desire to stay there. If my kids were both grown maybe this area would grow on me, not sure. But being on 5 acres on a lake there is a lot for them to do, but there are no kids even close and even if there was a way to get around for kids there is nothing here to go too.

[Bydand]

46 here, and after living in different states in widely different regions (from downstate Michigan, the UP; to Dallas, Texas; to Aroostook County, Maine) I feel like I am am home to stay now. I'm back within a couple miles of where I grew up and live on a street I rode my bike down thousands of times as a kid. I feel like it is home and it feels like it should (if that makes any sense.) My wife was born in a small town in Mass, and says this area feels more like home to her than where she grew up and has lived as an adult. It took being away for many years and traveling all over the Country to see that what I need and what I WANT are all right here and has been all along.

I think a large portion of that feeling is seeing my kids have the same childhood I did for the most part. Knowing that they mark the 6th generation that has lived here. If they go into a store downtown they know they had better behave, because Dad knows the store owners because I went to school with them or that they have been friends of the family since our Grandparents time, and they WILL call if they get out of line (same as when I was a kid). Some things are different, but for the most part it feels right and the kids LOVE living where we do. One thing that has changed is the schools, they are MUCH better now than when I went to them here.

[YAZ]

I moved to AZ 6 years ago and have MADE it my home. I don't say "Well, back home in Michigan.....yada, yada, yada...." anymore. I think my friends and coworkers were getting sick of me.....always comparing and contrasting the two states.

During our visits to the Great Lake State though......it still feels like home...

My wife still has comments like, "I could live there." She would move to Michigan in a heartbeat. I s'pose she appreciates the things that I take for granted. She's from New Mexico and I feel the same way about her "Home state." I could live there.

I'd move back if certain terms and conditions were met, e.g., I would be residing north of M-10.

I'm confident that I could be happy anywhere though.

[sunshineann]

I'm originally from Pa. born and raised there, lived there until i was 32, i wouldnt have imagined living anywhere else. Then i divorced and moved to Missouri. I did not like Mo. at all, stuck that our for a few years, and i too, had that yearning for wanting a place to call "home" I knew it wasnt back to my home state. We (my husband now and kids) decided we wanted to head to Michigan. I've lived here for a little over year. And this is home. This is the place i want to grow old. I have friends from Pa. that ask about me moving back there, and i tell them, that that is not home, and im not sure that it ever really was.
So yes JGatti, im close to your age, and i know how you feel. But for me, for now, this is home.

[KMSFLA]

I'm 50 and consider Marshall Michigan my "Home" even though I only lived there a total of about 10 years out of my life. Very good memories of growing up there. With me, I think it's more of missing the North as I don't have a fondness for Florida and tropical environments in general. I guess I'm just a northern boy.

Maybe "Home" is were the good memories are.

[Mi. Red Wing]

I'm 41 and laid off........the jobs suck around here, and the companies expect you to work for the same wages as I did when I graduated High School. I've lived here my whole life, and have NEVER seen this area this bad. Personally, I don't like the direction this state is heading with our fearless mole faced leader, so I'm out of here soon! No, it really doesn't feel like home anymore!

[Mi. Red Wing]

Originally Posted by Mi. Red Wing

I'm 41 and laid off........the jobs suck around here, and the companies expect you to work for the same wages as I did when I graduated High School. I've lived here my whole life, and have NEVER seen this area this bad. Personally, I don't like the direction this state is heading with our fearless mole faced leader, so I'm out of here soon! No, it really doesn't feel like home anymore!

Oh, by the way I forgot to mention: Thanks Jenny! And, yes we are blown away, kind of like the Wizard of Oz!