How far have you moved?

[Jeff V]

This topic should have a poll!

And the topic of the poll: "How close are you to your friends and family?" (and not physical distance).

I am currently 44 miles from where I was hatched. Family ties have loosened since my parent's died. The only other city I have somewhat close family outside of the Chicago area is Phoenix, and the past year or so my cousin has proven to be too much of a bumper-headed Trumptard to even consider visiting (too bad, his mom, my dad's sister, is the last remaining family that is of the previous generation). If I was to leave here (but stay in the country AND given my choice), Denver is most attractive because I have a number of friends there. I don't really see that happening because (1) in spite of a close coworker living near Denver, my company doesn't have a strong base there and what I do sometimes requires physical presence unlike my WFH colleague. (2) Moving sucks. (3) T-2 years until the boy is in school and I'm loathe to uproot the kids once they start school. (4) Moving really sucks. (5) Wife has made a number of good friends here. She has some good friends elsewhere in this country, but no fucking way am I going to move to Atlanta or NYC. (6) Moving blows giant donkey balls. (7) Metro areas with as big or bigger of a Filipino community are New York (New Jersey) and Los Angeles, neither appeal to me. (8) Moving is worse than Hitler.

[Brian]

Tacoma, WA to Missouri to Michigan to Okinawa to Minot, ND to Grand Forks, ND then back to Minot then NTC San Diego to Vallejo, CA to Jacksonville, FL to Norfolk, VA then back to Jacksonville followed by Chicago and then on to Omaha, NE where I spent the last 23 years and most recently, literally two days ago, to Mesa, AZ.

[Jeff V]

You'll hardly notice the climate change I'm sure.

[Blackhawk]

1,950 miles from my home town currently. I lived another 100 miles away for a period of months.

Of course, I've also moved cross-country more than a dozen times (probably a lot more, but I don't feel like counting.)

[RunningMn9]

About 250 miles from where I was born, less than 20 miles from where we settled and I finished incubating. However everyone else moved 800 miles away.

[Zenn7]

I oddly ended up about 50-60 miles from where I was born. Sure coincidence of the job I ended up getting and the house I was able to find/afford.

Since we moved a lot while I was growing up, hard to define where I was raised. I spend 6-7 years (first 2 years of my life and 4.5 or so years from 1st-5th) in the town I was born, and another 6 months in a neighboring town (start of 9th grade).

And spent the rest of High School and all of college living in one town. The rest I was never in one place more than a year or two. Spent 6th-8th grade in a total of 5 different places (2 in neighboring counties in Alabama, 1 in Mississippi and 2 in neighboring counties in Kentucky).

None of those places are closer to where I am now than where I was born though.

[Tao]

4,970 miles. Having been in the military I have lived all around the country as well as outside the U.S. for periods of time but I don't consider that "moving away" necessarily. I made the choice to join the military to get away but the gov't sent me to those places, I did not necessarily choose. Quitting my job, selling all my stuff and moving back to Hawaii was a very specific choice (4,970 mi). The rest of my family, 3 siblings and my mom, all live about an hour from where I was born. My dad was the same before he passed.

Over a span of 33 years;

Brooklyn NY --> Orlando FL --> Great Lakes MI --> San Diego CA --> Honolulu HI --> Brooklyn NY --> Honolulu HI --> San Diego CA --> Vallejo CA --> Honolulu HI --> Brooklyn NY --> Denver CO --> Sterling VA

There are also 6 months stints in Barrio Barretto Philippines and Agana Guam working as a civilian contractor in there somewhere.

[dbt1949]

As I was born in Kansas City Kansas I'm not too far from where I was born.

[Kraken]

(8) Moving is worse than Hitler.

Logistics aside, the longer you live somewhere the more rooted you become. I'm on a first-name basis with my mail carrier. I have a good auto mechanic within walking distance of home. I've had the same primary care doc for 25+ years. Tomorrow we're going to the 21st annual Grand (wine) Tasting at our packie, and I've been to every one of them. And so on. Wife and I talk a lot about where and when we might move if we live to retirement, but we're both content with where we are now. Hard to imagine starting over anywhere else at age 67. Plus, moving is worse than Hitler.

[Blackhawk]

Oddly enough, while I did move almost 2,000 miles away from where I started, I have ended up within 25 miles of where every paternal ancestor for the past 200 years was born, lived, and died.

[Daehawk]

I live in the same town I was born in. Ive moved from the east side to the north to the west and for the last 30 years Ive lived on the south side. But I go to nothing and know no one. I know my neighbors names but dont visit or talk to them. We've had a Halloween block party for 30 years in town and never been. Have River Bend each year and never been. We've had gift cards from Red Lobster and Bath & Body but never been. The cards are 4 years old. Keep talking about going and plan to but never do. I just exist here is about all. I basically died years ago.

[coopasonic]

Grew up in NY, live in TX, by way of PA and SC. I am the middle child and live at the middle distance. My older brother lives in Germany and my younger brother lives 20 minutes from mom's place in NY.

[Lorini]

About 40 miles away. I was born in Pasadena and now live in Santa Clarita where I will stay for the rest of my life because I love it here. My brother on the other hand is in the great ATL area and doesn't expect to come back.

[Zarathud]

55 miles away from the small town where my ancestors built a chapel and the farms where my dad grew up. My mom and dad built a house 2 blocks away from the go-cart track where they met, after their first lot couldn't get permits.

[ImLawBoy]

Growing up as an atheist in a very religious area, I couldn't wait to leave Grand Rapids.

. . . .

I had always wanted to live in KY

[Gryndyl]

Born in Klamath Falls, OR

Then...

Moved to Bellingham, WA (541 miles)
Moved to San Antonio, TX (2.228 miles from Bellingham)
Moved to Misawa, Japan (6,260 from San Antonio)
Moved to Sacramento, CA (4,872)
Moved to Athens, Greece (6,699)
Moved to Bellevue, WA (6,158)
Moved to Olympia, WA (64)
Multiple moves in the Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater area
Then...
Moved to Seattle (60 miles)
Multiple moves around the Seattle/Kirkland/Bellevue area)
Then...
Moved to Kimhae, South Korea (5,220)
Moved to Suquamish, WA (5,207)
Then back to S. Korea (5,207)
Then back to Suquamish (5,207)
Then to back to Olympia (81)
And finally to my current spot in Tumwater where I'm 390 miles from my place of birth.

Not counting <10 mile hops moving around metro areas I'm around 2,200 miles short of 50k miles worth of movin' and shakin'.

[Kraken]

Growing up as an atheist in a very religious area, I couldn't wait to leave Grand Rapids.

. . . .

I had always wanted to live in KY

I know, right? My opinion of KY was formed by one especially hedonistic trip that I took in my teens. The riverfront bars in Louisville had no problem with serving 17-year-olds and the girls were hot and loose. The Smokies beckoned to a flatlander like me. The climate there was ideal before global warming kicked in. It was a licentious paradise compared to GR, and I was already predisposed to like the South because my dad was from the Ozarks. People were more tolerant in the '70s and KY combined the best of the Midwest and the Deep South, or so I thought.

As I said, I'm glad Wife won that contest, because KY would not have worked out. Couldn't see that at the time, though.

[Grundbegriff]

I've moved a lot and have lived in many places.

[gameoverman]

According to Google maps I live approximately 8 miles east of the home I grew up in. The weird thing to me? I currently live almost directly east. There's this main boulevard that runs east to west, I grew about a block and a half south of it and I now live about a block and a half north of it. What the hell?

Offhand, close family members who live out of state do so for two main reasons. One, they joined the military and since then they live where the military stations them. Two, while in the military they met someone and got married. So they now live where ever their spouse is from. I don't count that as not living near where you grew up. If you grew up in Maine but now live in San Diego, you can lay claim to not being stuck in familiar territory unless your partner is from San Diego. Then it's the same thing.

[dbt1949]

I lived in your town from 55 til 62. Have great nostalgia from it. I've investigated it online and I'd hardly recognize it now.

[Kelric]

Not counting college, I lived within about 30 miles of my childhood home from age 12 through 32 (moved at age 12) despite moving six more times from age 25 to 32. This year I moved 99 miles away, per driving directions. One sister lived in Alaska for a few years and the other moved to Virginia for a few years, but they both wound back up within 50 miles of our childhood home (neither of my parents have lived there for the last 20 years either, and both stayed within 25 miles of said home after they divorced). New England just isn't very large.

Tacoma, WA to Missouri to Michigan to Okinawa to Minot, ND to Grand Forks, ND then back to Minot then NTC San Diego to Vallejo, CA to Jacksonville, FL to Norfolk, VA then back to Jacksonville followed by Chicago and then on to Omaha, NE where I spent the last 23 years and most recently, literally two days ago, to Mesa, AZ.

You moved to Arizona? My whole world view is now askew.

[Shinjin]

I had always wanted to live in KY ... I'm really glad I didn't win that one.

i lived in Lexington, KY for 13 years. Loved that city. Easy winters (when there wasn't an ice storm) and made some wonderful friends. Seriously disturbed by politicians from that state for the past 6+ years (but that's a different forum).

That was 700 miles from where I grew up. Now back in the home state but 190 miles from my Mommy, 3 miles from Mommy-in-law.

On my side of the family, 1 sibling is 100 miles from Mommy, 1 is 10 miles. Wife's side of the family, both siblings are currently within 10 miles.

[Kraken]

I've moved a lot and have lived in many places.

Can you put that in Niles for us?

[Brian]

You moved to Arizona? My whole world view is now askew.

Yup. Now I need to find myself a job.

[mori]

I live exactly 100 miles from my hometown. I have lived my entire life in MN besides a year I lived in western WI which is basically a drunker MN. My mother still lives close to my hometown as well as my oldest sibling. My sister lives within 20 miles from myself and my other two siblings live in the Midwest not terribly far away. When my mother passes and the farm is disposed of, there would be nothing left to hold me here, but I doubt I would move away now. My extended family has a habit of moving further west as they get older, but I do not have that longing in my heart yet.

[Grundbegriff]

I've moved a lot and have lived in many places.

Can you put that in Niles for us?

After much migration, I now live 0.63 Niles from my spawn point.

[Kurth]

Born in Ipswich, England (5 yrs)
Moved 3,561 miles to Quakertown, PA (15 yrs)
Moved 171 miles to Washington, DC (1 yr)
Moved 225 miles to NYC (1 yr)
Moved 217 miles to Boston (4 yrs)
Moved 336 miles to Wilmington, DE (3 yrs)
Moved 336 miles back to Boston (11 yrs)
Moved 3,087 miles to Portland, OR (going on 3 yrs)

So, I currently live 4,914 miles from where I was born. I live 2,844 miles from where I grew up.

All told, I've moved just under 8,000 miles over 7 moves (not counting moves within the same general locale).

[Kasey Chang]

Miles of my moves...

Asia to South America 10000 miles (roughly)

South America to Texas, about 2400 miles

Texas to California, 1700 miles

Altogether about 14000 miles.

[Isgrimnur]

Born in Ipswich, England (5 yrs)

Stealth Brit! Get him!

[RMC]

I was born about 35 miles from where I grew up. Joined the service right out of high school, basically, I took a semester of classes at a local community college then joined the Navy and left. Because I wanted to get away from Rural Ohio.

Then spent 4 years going all over the place including the middle east in what was a war zone. Learned a lot, but mostly I liked where I grew up and did not see much reason to live elsewhere.

Went to college about 40 miles from where I grew up, got married, and when my dad passed away, my wife and I moved into the house where I grew up to help my mother. 17 years later, I own the house I grew up in, and we built an in law suite for my mother.

So I live exactly in the same house I grew up in. But I have traveled more than most people I know, and with several jobs in consulting I have been to all 50 states. And I still enjoy Ohio. I might eventually move after my kids are older and grown up, but I doubt it.

So I guess I am 0 Niles away from where I grew up.

[Jag]

Never lived outside of NY my entire life, including college and beyond. Moved to FL in 2001 (when I was 33). Probably will stay here. It's a pretty easy place to live.

[Sectoid]

I'm getting a sense that we, as a group, are hardly average Americans, myself aside.

[Kurth]

Born in Ipswich, England (5 yrs)

Stealth Brit! Get him!

It's a sleeper cell.

[Jeff V]

Then...

Does Allied Van Lines have a frequent movers program with deals too good for you to pass up?

[wire]

Joined the Army right out of high school to get out of the crappy little logging town in southwest Washington State I grew up in. Asked specifically for Germany when I enlisted and got it.

Winlock, WA to Bayreuth, West Germany (before the wall fell in 1989)
Bayreuth to Ft. Benning, GA (what an awful armpit of a place)
Ft. Benning, GA to Ft. Lewis, WA (reenlisted for 4 more years to leave GA early and be closer to home)
Ft. Lewis to several places around the greater Seattle/Tacoma area but never closer than 70-100 miles from hometown
Seattle to Monterey, CA (wife had never lived outside of the Tacoma area so when a job opportunity came up out of state we took it)

We would love to move back to the PNW and have been looking at Portland which would put me about 70 miles from my hometown and that is about as close as I can see getting. I visit my parents but that town and surrounding area is just not a very nice place to even visit.

[Newcastle]

the world was graced with my presence when i spawned
... in germany
moved to france
moved to LA, Cali
moved to europe
moved to belgium
moved to france
moved to germany
moved to spain
moved to germany
hit 7 years of age
moved to LACA CA
moved to Ventura county, CA
moved to Africa
moved to Switzerland
Hit 18
Moved to Ventura CA
moved to South Central, LA
moved to Ventura CA
Moved to Washington DC
worked/Moved in Ottumwa iowa
worked/moved to Lansing Michigan
moved to Washington DC
moved to LA, CA
work moved to Washington DC
Work Moved To Connecticut
Moved back to LA, CA
Work/Moved to ABQ, NM
Moved back to Ventura County

And here I am!

Not sure how much that is in Niles, way too lazy to count it up.

[Isgrimnur]

Are you Romany?

[Newcastle]

Are you Romany?

Nope. Father worked for Uncle Sam.