I am orignally from a small town in Illinois.
I left as soon as I could.
I have been back for one tragic funeral.
I never intend to go back.
Maybe I’m weird, but my hometown was a great place to grow up in, but I really never want to go back again.
I’m from San Diego, now in Northern California. Been here 10+ years. I go back once or twice a year to see family, but anymore, what San Diego is to me is all in my mind.
There’s nobody I know on the street I grew up on anymore. Most of my childhood friends live elsewhere. Went to a 20 year high school reunion recently; none of my teachers still teach there. The weathers nice of course, but the weather is nice in plenty of places.
Time marches on.
I grew up in a small town in Victoria, and the couple of times I have been back in the last 30 years have been disappointing to say the least. The worst one was going back for a school reunion a few years ago, and I turned up a day too late!
You can’t ever go home.
There’s a group called the Austin Lounge Lizards. They have a wonderful song titled “This Godforsaken Hellhole I Call Home”. My favorite verse goes a little something like this:
“A stranger came to town and asked me why
Instead of pulling in again I don’t just pass it by
But all my friends are buried here and some of them are dead
So home is where I’ll always hang my head.”
Enough said.
You are not weird (well, at least, this doesn’t make you so) I am in total agreement. Great place to grow up, I never intend to go back…
I’ve been back to the town I lived in from first to eighth grade once, and that was 25 years ago. I did my last visit most likely ever to the town where I went to high school and where my father lives (but will be moving from shortly). Population now is 60,000 versus the 6,000 when I grew up. I get lost driving around. Took me 3 tries to find the house we used to live in, and the only thing I thought was 'what a dump."
No fond memories to hang onto and no buddies to look up.
Lived in my hometown until I was 18. Went to school for 2 years, came back for one year, left again. Spent 11 years in Boulder, CO. About 2 years in, started thinking “I should move back.” Vacillated for the next 9 years. Moved back last summer, and it’s glorious! I’m VERY happy I made the move!
I’ve never lived anywhere but my hometown, which sounds odd to most people I know. I’m 31 and never had a desire to live anywhere else. I like the small town atmosphere - population 6,000 when born and 8,000 now (numbers approximate).
Grew up in West Los Angeles. I hate it there. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.
Haj
I am also from a small town in Illinois. It didn’t bother me so much when I lived there, but now that I’ve moved out I never want to go back. The atmosphere there is really kind of stifling.
I LOVE that song quote. I think I’m going to use it whenever I talk about my hometown.
I would go back to my home town if I could go back 30 years ago. There is not one single thing that’s how it was when I was growing up. The house I grew up in burned to the ground. My elementary school is an office building now. None of the shops or restaurants are the same except the diner which has changed owners and now the food is mediocre on a good day.
I think going home has more appeal for people whose families stayed in the town.
I didn’t want to go back to my hometown now that I’m done with college. Most of my old friends are gone-- we like the city, but good jobs are hard to find there. All the stable, well-paying jobs are slowly leaking away and being replaced with nothing but minimum-wage service industry jobs. I’m leaving the area for a job soon.
Oh, yeah, and as a final insult, I found out recently that the skating rink where I spent all my time during grade school years is gone, replaced by an office complex. sniff
I think you hit it right on the head, gwendee. I enjoy going home even though a lot of things have changed because it’s, well, home. Most of my family is in the same town, or at least within an hour’s drive, and one of the two high school friends I keep up with is still there. I don’t think I’d ever want to live there again, mind you, but going home is like slipping into a pair of ratty, faded, perfectly-broken-in jeans. Nothing to brag about or show off, but awfully comforting.
I rarely go back to my hometown in rural West Tennessee. It has always been dear to me and I write an occasional short piece about it. It has the same population (2,000) as when I was a child. But it’s just not there anymore. Even most of the downtown businesses are closed – including the store that my father had for thirty-five years. I know virtually no one. It’s hard to be homesick for a place that doesn’t exist.
It wasn’t until I moved away that I realized what a nice neighborhood I grew up in – streets shaded with tall trees, generous but not oversized lots, that sort of thing. Nicely kept-up houses. I now live only a few towns over, and I frequently drive by the house I grew up in – every time I go to visit my sister, who bought a house about a quarter mile from the one our parents owned. However, my sister is moving out of state this summer and there is nobody in that town I know after that.
As far as fond memories, there are definite disadvantages in going through high school with people who remember every single thing you ever did since kindergarten.
I certainly wouldn’t move back there out of nostalgia. From a purely practical point of view, it would be one of the places I’d look if I were in the market for a new house, though.
Got out at 17 and never looked back. I seriously doubt my feelings will change.
I grew up in a big town in Texas. All of my sibs headed elsewhere. but I’m still here and I love the place (I did leave for 6 years, but moved back 23 years ago).
I was born and grew up in Los Angeles. I went back for a family gathering in 1996, and was thoroughly disgusted. The pollution was atrocious, the traffic was awful, and the whole city looked like a slum to me.
I went to high school in Plano, Texas, and there is another place I have no desire to go back to. It’s just too large and too generic.
Airman and I live near the town where he grew up. It’s not uncommon for someone to see my name and ask if I’m related to Dave, or Dave’s sister, or Dave’s cousin. It’s kinda nice, actually.
Robin
I also grew up in small town (pop. 1800) Illinois. My parents were both from far away states so we had no other family in the area. All five of us kids moved away after high school, then my parents moved, so I haven’t been back there for 23 years. In the booklet I got for my 20th high school reunion I was surprised at the number of people in my class that are still living there (or in the biggest nearby town where there are jobs). I can only imagine what my life would be like if I’d have stayed there. Ick.
This year is my 25th H.S. reunion and I’m planning on going just to see how things have changed, drive by my old house (which, according to the booklet, a former classmate now lives in) and my friends houses, go to the reunion and leave as quickly as possible. It was a pretty good place to grow up but I wouldn’t want to live there and I doubt if I’ll go back again after this.
I grew up in Rockville, MD 20 minutes outside of Washington, DC and lived in the area (Rockville/Gaithersburg) for more than 27 years. While the traffic problem has grown horrendously bad and the summers can be awful, (especially the air quality) I still like it very much, the knowledge that I could get up on a Saturday morning, hop onto the Metro and in 30 minutes be walking around the Mall is just too cool for words.
I may be moving back to the area this summer, depending on whether I get accepted in a program I’ve applied to.