Originally Posted by graciegirl (Post 1912475)

One of the most serious psychological "stressors" is a major move, no matter if it IS a wonderful place.

Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 1913453)

This is so true. And almost everyone I know who has made a lifetime move from the north to the south, no matter where in the south, has spent the first month or so asking themselves, What have I done.


Don't trust your first instincts. It's like going off to college and getting homesick the first month or so. Then you're having so much fun you never want to leave.

Originally Posted by dhdallas (Post 1912686)

I'd rather be in your mountains or on a beach, lake, river, or any natural setting. I am only here in TV because my wife insisted. This is not her opinion; she loves every little thing about it. For me though other than the warm winter weather, it sucks.

. To each his own. As for me, I am counting the days until we can return to our lakefront home in PA.

Originally Posted by Aces4 (Post 1914553)

I’m surprised this post was allowed to remain.

Dallas was simply stating facts and many of us feel this way. If one examines his statements, they are true. There are a plethora of activities to which people can run all day long in The Villages. Many of us are introverts who enjoy peace, solitude, nature involved activities and occasional get together with friends. The Villages is the antithesis to these desires. The area outside The Villages walls and local housing developments are as he described and are simply a fact.

Originally Posted by Allen2021 (Post 1912504)

We are moving because we are sick of the long winters. it is dark here at 4pm in the winter. you work all summer to get ready for the next winter. we are 25 miles from a store 50 miles from our doctor. and we were offered a ridicule's price for our house. And no would never come back to Northern Idaho

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 1912594)

I'm from New England and lived in a depression (not exactly a valley) between two mountain ranges. I was a bicycle ride away from both of them for most of my life. We had a proper Autumn (the Merritt Parkway is a designated National Scenic Route for this reason), and the usual expected 3 other seasons that are notable because each one is remarkably different from the other.

While I don't miss the Nor'easters or sub-freezing temperatures, I do miss New England. I miss the mountains, I miss Autumn. I miss apple picking at the orchard, I miss berry picking season. I miss my wild raspberries, I miss my huckleberry tree, I miss my 5 200+-year-old sugar maples in the back yard. I miss real actual Town Greens and the fairgrounds where we had food truck festivals and the International Irish Dance competition every year, and the agricultural fair during the last days of summer.

I miss driving down the main road in Wallingford to appreciate the Victorian Colonial homes all decked out in their finery for Christmas. And yes, I even miss snow (though not the icy winds that usually accompanied it).

I will ALWAYS be a New Englander. But I'm here, and it's very lovely here, there's plenty to do, or I can sit on the lanai and do nothing if I choose, and I have wonderful neighbors that make me feel like I'm "home." So I'm a New Englander whose home is Florida. I know I'm not alone in that - there are LOTS of New Englanders down here who share the same feelings of nostalgia and wistfulness of our own backgrounds.

That's one of the best things about the Villages, as opposed to any other retirement community. You can find lots of your "people" down here who share similar backgrounds, who might even be able to give their opinion on the same restaurants "back home" that you used to enjoy. They might even have attended the same football game you did the day your team clobbered the opponent in the last 8 seconds, and you can share with them your own version of the exact same play-by-play they give you from their perspective.

The facade of the Villages is just that. A facade. It's a pretty picture. But it's filled with people who are, for the most part, genuine. And many of them come from your neck of the woods, and you'll not feel lonely at all if you reach out, or accept their hand when they reach out.