Did you move around a lot as a kid?

[Huang_Guang_Chen]

On the other hand, the intimate familiarity, long-term stability and life-long friends gained from living in one place for so long: that sounds great too and I’ve felt envy from time to time. I would think such people may feel more at peace with themselves, with less need to keep striving, exploring, moving on to the next thing. I sometimes get a cozy, homey feeling being around such people, as they chat about their life-long friends and their seemingly tranquil lives, and feel I’m faking it sitting there talking with them, pretending we share common bonds, because I am actually completely alien from them, as if we were from different planets.

Of course those that did stick to their local patch are also, or say they are, envious of people that have buzzed around.
I wonder about the economics of it all. I’ve recently thought about the cost in all this shuffling homes. Quite a few people I know/knew did very well by their extensive local connections. Then there’s the ones that gained on real estate.

HG

[TheGingerMan]

I always find it ironic that some folks who have remain rooted in more or less one place feel that those who have moved a lot as a child are luckier than they are or something. Often, those of us who have been constantly uprooted feel the same way about those with long-standing roots.

Myself, I would have been a totally different person had my family stayed in one place. And endless revolving cycle of ever-changing schools, friends, and environments has molded my personality. Indeed, after high school, when my father retired, I tried to “settle down” in one place. Couldn’t take more than 2 years in one place. Joined the army myself, and bounced around again. After army & university, kept bouncing from jobs in different cities until i landed on these fair shores.
But that wanderlust never fades, and sometimes I wish it would.

[Mother_Theresa]

@TheGingerMan

I always find it ironic that some folks who have remain rooted in more or less one place feel that those who have moved a lot as a child are luckier than they are or something. Often, those of us who have been constantly uprooted feel the same way about those with long-standing roots.

the grass is always greener syndrome

Myself, I would have been a totally different person had my family stayed in one place.

Sure, same for all of us. And those who stayed put would be different if they’d moved about.

But that wanderlust never fades, and sometimes I wish it would.

Reminds me of a great (aren’t they all) Tom Waits song.

[quote]when travelling abroad in the continental style
it’s my belief one must attempt to be discreet
and subsequently bear in mind your transient position
allows you a perspective that’s unique
though you’ll find your itinerary’s a blessing and a curse
your wanderlust won’t let you settle down
and you’ll wonder how you ever fathomed that you’d be content
to stay within the city limits of a small midwestern town
most vagabonds i know don’t ever want to find the culprit
that remains the object of their long relentless quest
the obsession’s in the chasing and not the apprehending
the pursuit you see and never the arrest . . .[/quote]
lyrics.duble.com/lyrics/T/tom-wa … lyrics.htm

[Stray_Dog]

Moved once at the age of two, but only a mile or so away, in the same town. Stayed put for the next 14 years until I left home. I have had over 50 different adresses since then, though the moves are becoming less frequent now.

I just don’t like feeling too settled. Maybe it’s the hemorrhoids. :s

[Huang_Guang_Chen]

@Stray Dog

I just don’t like feeling too settled. Maybe it’s the hemorrhoids. :s

Or the fact that you are after all, a stray dog, no?

HG

[Chris]

@TheGingerMan

Myself, I would have been a totally different person had my family stayed in one place. And endless revolving cycle of ever-changing schools, friends, and environments has molded my personality.

As my family bounced around, I attended 8 different schools between 1st and 12th grades. Being constantly uprooted, both home-wise and school-wise, also meant that whatever friends I made, I knew I would soon lose them, and eventually I gave up trying to make friends. Life was definitely tough in that respect. Fortunately by the time I was in high school and college (the two main periods of stability in my life) I began making friends again.

Because of this I have nobody I can call a “friend I grew up with” - a friend I knew since childhood. My oldest friends are from my high school years.

[shifty]

My mother was a hippie, does that answer it ?

[Mr_He]

Born in the western part of Copenhagen, moved with the parents to a big square box of a house in the northern part of said city at 11 months. My parents still live there. I grew up in a safe friendly environment, attended teh same school, the same high school, and the same university too. My dad thought about moving, however ended up preferring to stay where he stays.

At the age of 21, I left home, and went with a back bpack to Taiwan. OK, i had a university scholarship, but still, Asia, it smacked of adventure. I guess that i wanted ot get out in the world and see how that was like. I returned 18 months later, and got my BA and MA down pat. However, it was like I had become institutionalized when in Taiwan. I had to get back to Asia, aimed for China, but shot too long and ended up here instead.

I don’t have any plans to go back. Spain or Portugal would be nicer retirement destinations.

[SoulDragoN]

feel I’m faking it sitting there talking with them, pretending we share common bonds, because I am actually completely alien from them, as if we were from different planets.

Passport says “XYZ”, mom came over as refugee in WW2 era, dad came over at 32 years old. They met…babies…and then we:
Left at age 4 or so, moved to Malta 1.5 years, then to Tunisia another year, then Libya, 7 years…went back to the Frozen tundra, which became a kind of living hell in cowboy hick town. Left, went to boarding school in Switzerland, then back to frozen hell…graduated from Uni…and got the Hell out…

No regrets.
No going back.

Worst feeling, is the ‘Alien’ in the Homeland…