In my case, which I’m sure is the case for many others, there were the moves over which I had no say (family moves while young), the moves over which I had little say (circumstances dictated that I move), and the moves I set out on for myself, even when circumstances might have been screaming, “just stay put!”
Born in Richmond, VA, my first move was before I was two. Deadbeat Dad, keen to avoid some messy child support issues that didn’t involve my mother or me, and likely browbeaten by mom to keep supporting us, took us down to Ocean Springs, MS [1] to stay with his father and stepmother while he figured things out. From there he decided New Orleans was the place to be, and we moved to a no-tell motel in the Gentilly area [2]. That, in turn, was a stepping stone to a small shotgun house in the same area [3] that eventually led to little place in Kenner west of the airport [4], one of the last outposts of residential civilization before hitting the swamps between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
At some point during that stay, Mom decided she’d had enough of his crap, and she took me back up to Richmond to stay with friends [5] until she could figure out next steps. That must not have worked too well, because that next step was right back to Kenner [6]. Soon after that, Dad found a new place a few blocks away [7] that, from my recollection, was a step backward in just about every way. Maybe it was cheaper, I don’t know. The new place was smaller, was right on the highway for a better experience of all the noise from passing 18-wheelers and the more than occasional auto accidents at the nearby “major” intersection, and left behind a pecan tree, fig tree, lemon tree, banana tree, and a fenced-in yard nestled deeply enough in the neighborhood where none of that noise could find us.
Mom decided again she’d had enough of his crap, so when I was nine we moved off to a new neighborhood, sans deadbeat, in a nearby town I’d never even heard of, Harahan [8]. Times got rough, as they do, and that led to a cheaper place in a worse part of a different town, Jefferson [9]. Times got rougher, which led to me moving with friends of family [10], which got weird and led to me moving back with Mom [11] and on to trailer #1 [12] in a trailer park in the same town. That led to trailer #2 [13], which led to apartment #1 [14] across the highway, which led to apartment #2 [15] in the same building.
At some point I finally had enough of the crap and moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia [16] courtesy of the US Army at the age of seventeen. That led to a required move to Ft. Ord, CA [17], followed by an ill-advised move back to apartment #2 [18].
Good fortune and a relationship took me off to Destrehan, LA [19]. Ill fortune put me back in apartment #2 [20]. Better fortunes took me to New Orleans proper for the first time, in the Lakeview area [21], while I went to UNO. College adventures and the vicissitudes of personal dysfunction saw that I moved into an apartment in Mid-City [22], an apartment in the Garden District [23], an apartment in the Warehouse District [24] (counter to what the name implies, by far the most upscale, and truly so, of the bunch), and a summer stay in Westwego, LA [25] on the other side of the river.
Next stop, associated with a change in college, was a move to Mandeville, LA [26], on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, a move to Hammond, LA to live in the dorms at SLU [27], an apartment off-campus [28], then back into the dorms [29], and…back to mom’s apartment [30], but this time apartment #1 as she’d moved back into it from apartment #2.
The next stop was a nice shotgun home in Mid-City [31] when fortune took a turn for the better. When fortune played the fickle card, as it does, that took me back to apartment #2 [32]. Things improved, so I did the natural thing. I moved to Auckland, NZ [33]. That didn’t last long. Apartment #2 [34] came to the rescue, after which I got my own apartment in the same building [35].
A massive (to me) upturn in my personal fortunes took me away to Alexandria, VA [36] where I lived with a friend while searching for my own place. Said place ended up being in Takoma Park, MD [37]. After a rousing round of musical housemates, I moved to a house technically also in Takoma Park [38], but just barely. Of course, the next place would be Pittsburgh, PA [39], right? Of course, because that, permanent move that it was, was but a stepping stone to Silver Spring, MD [40], the town on the other side of the street from the last place in Takoma Park.
Conrad, MT [41] was just the next logical step. I’m about 99% sure this isn’t my final destination, however, but [42] is taking its sweet time figuring itself out.
I’ve moved around a little bit. Lived in SW Connecticut for a couple of years. After that i moved to singapore for a few years, and then after that moved to seattle and thats where i am now. Welcome to Seattle where the weather is extremely depressing, the weather is beautiful when its sunny, traffic sucks and people cant drive.
I guess I’m more attached to my home state than most people my age….I’m just not that mobile. While I’ve traveled a great deal – both work-related and personal adventures – I’ve only moved fourteen times since birth. Two of the moves during that time were within 1 1/2 mile radius of each other. So here’s my much less diverse list:
North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC – birth
319 Gloria Avenue, Winston-Salem, NC
Booneville, NC –
Clemmonsville Road, Winston-Salem NC – for 16 months
1429 Argonne Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC – for 38 months
285 Cedar Drive, Winston-Salem, NC – for 13 years
202 Jamison Dorm, UNC-G – for one year
202 Mendenhall Dorm, UNC-G – for one year
Lindley Park Apartments, Greensboro, NC – for four months
Eller Road, Lexington (Midway), NC – 3 years
1524 Denton Road, Thomasville, NC – 2 years
2435 Friendship-Ledford Road, Winston-Salem, NC – 11 years
2001 Motsinger Road, Winston-Salem, NC – 8 years
Saddlechase Lane, Winston-Salem, NC – 4 years
121 N. Spring Street, Winston-Salem, NC – one year
Ashe County, NC – ongoing since 2011
Needless to say any impending move due to the political climate of this state is not without a great deal many tears. Fortunately, I’ve found out that home is not a place….for me, home is anywhere I can be with Jim.
Apparently, it’s about typical for Scrogues, who seem to average 1-2 years per abode.
1. Sumter, SC (5)
2. Main St, Bishopville, SC #1 (2)
3. Main St, Bishopville, SC #2 (2)
4. Main St, Bishopville, SC #3 (2)
5. Ware County, Ga #1 (1)
6. Ware County, Ga #2 (2)
7. Brunel St. Waycross, Ga (1)
8. Garlington Hts, Waycross, Ga. (3)
9. Lagrange College, Lagrange, Ga (1)
10. Waycross, Ga. (0.5)
11. Atlanta, Ga (0.5)
12. Decatur, Ga (1)
13. Manjoru, SL, W. Africa (1.5)
14. Kenema, SL, W. Africa (0.5)
15. Houma, La #1 (1)
16. Houma, La #2 (3)
17. Athens, Ga (1)
18. Winterville, Ga (2)
19. St. Anne, IL (1)
20. Aroma Park, IL (1)
21. Kanakee, IL (2)
22. Keota St., Chicago (3)
23. Potts Point, Sydney, AUS (0.5)
24. Paddington, Sydney, Aus (1.5)
25. Woolhara, Sydney, Aus (2)
26. Winnetka, IL (3)
27. Mexico City (1)
28. NYC (1)
29. Winnetka, IL (2)
30. Santa Monica (0.5)
31. Winnetka (2.5)
32. Chicago (3)
33. Bloomington, IN (4)
34. Chicago (1)
35. Bloomington, IN
I’m going to be giving it my best shot, I assure you. I won’t be grumpy with the wimmins, but I will be me. That’s probably more than enough to scare all but the craziest away…..
Wichita, KS
Tulsa, OK
St. Louis, MO
Atlanta, GA
Duluth, MN
Lombard, IL (I started kindergarten here)
Tulsa, OK (I went to 3 first grades as we kept moving around town)
Independence, KS (started 7th grade here)
Ft. Dix, NJ (just 4 months for Basic and AIT)
Ft. Sill, OK (I was rather mad about this as I joined the Army to see the world and they sent me to Oklahoma)
Ray Barracks, Friedberg, Germany
Tulsa, OK (about 6 months)
Emporia, KS
Hannibal, MO
Pittsburg, KS
I’ve lived in three states but I guess I haven’t moved that much. I lived near Lombard, IL for 13 years RetroHound.
I agree with Frank that happiness isn’t where you are but a state of mind. But I don’t think you need a woman to make you happy. Although, there are things you could do with a woman that would make you temporarily very, very happy. I think it is acceptable to be mildly unhappy. Those people walking around huge smiles on their faces all the time worry me. I’ve known some who were like that who were actually pretty mentally ill.
lullaby pit 
In my case, which I’m sure is the case for many others, there were the moves over which I had no say (family moves while young), the moves over which I had little say (circumstances dictated that I move), and the moves I set out on for myself, even when circumstances might have been screaming, “just stay put!”
Born in Richmond, VA, my first move was before I was two. Deadbeat Dad, keen to avoid some messy child support issues that didn’t involve my mother or me, and likely browbeaten by mom to keep supporting us, took us down to Ocean Springs, MS [1] to stay with his father and stepmother while he figured things out. From there he decided New Orleans was the place to be, and we moved to a no-tell motel in the Gentilly area [2]. That, in turn, was a stepping stone to a small shotgun house in the same area [3] that eventually led to little place in Kenner west of the airport [4], one of the last outposts of residential civilization before hitting the swamps between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
At some point during that stay, Mom decided she’d had enough of his crap, and she took me back up to Richmond to stay with friends [5] until she could figure out next steps. That must not have worked too well, because that next step was right back to Kenner [6]. Soon after that, Dad found a new place a few blocks away [7] that, from my recollection, was a step backward in just about every way. Maybe it was cheaper, I don’t know. The new place was smaller, was right on the highway for a better experience of all the noise from passing 18-wheelers and the more than occasional auto accidents at the nearby “major” intersection, and left behind a pecan tree, fig tree, lemon tree, banana tree, and a fenced-in yard nestled deeply enough in the neighborhood where none of that noise could find us.
Mom decided again she’d had enough of his crap, so when I was nine we moved off to a new neighborhood, sans deadbeat, in a nearby town I’d never even heard of, Harahan [8]. Times got rough, as they do, and that led to a cheaper place in a worse part of a different town, Jefferson [9]. Times got rougher, which led to me moving with friends of family [10], which got weird and led to me moving back with Mom [11] and on to trailer #1 [12] in a trailer park in the same town. That led to trailer #2 [13], which led to apartment #1 [14] across the highway, which led to apartment #2 [15] in the same building.
At some point I finally had enough of the crap and moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia [16] courtesy of the US Army at the age of seventeen. That led to a required move to Ft. Ord, CA [17], followed by an ill-advised move back to apartment #2 [18].
Good fortune and a relationship took me off to Destrehan, LA [19]. Ill fortune put me back in apartment #2 [20]. Better fortunes took me to New Orleans proper for the first time, in the Lakeview area [21], while I went to UNO. College adventures and the vicissitudes of personal dysfunction saw that I moved into an apartment in Mid-City [22], an apartment in the Garden District [23], an apartment in the Warehouse District [24] (counter to what the name implies, by far the most upscale, and truly so, of the bunch), and a summer stay in Westwego, LA [25] on the other side of the river.
Next stop, associated with a change in college, was a move to Mandeville, LA [26], on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, a move to Hammond, LA to live in the dorms at SLU [27], an apartment off-campus [28], then back into the dorms [29], and…back to mom’s apartment [30], but this time apartment #1 as she’d moved back into it from apartment #2.
The next stop was a nice shotgun home in Mid-City [31] when fortune took a turn for the better. When fortune played the fickle card, as it does, that took me back to apartment #2 [32]. Things improved, so I did the natural thing. I moved to Auckland, NZ [33]. That didn’t last long. Apartment #2 [34] came to the rescue, after which I got my own apartment in the same building [35].
A massive (to me) upturn in my personal fortunes took me away to Alexandria, VA [36] where I lived with a friend while searching for my own place. Said place ended up being in Takoma Park, MD [37]. After a rousing round of musical housemates, I moved to a house technically also in Takoma Park [38], but just barely. Of course, the next place would be Pittsburgh, PA [39], right? Of course, because that, permanent move that it was, was but a stepping stone to Silver Spring, MD [40], the town on the other side of the street from the last place in Takoma Park.
Conrad, MT [41] was just the next logical step. I’m about 99% sure this isn’t my final destination, however, but [42] is taking its sweet time figuring itself out.
I’ve moved around a little bit. Lived in SW Connecticut for a couple of years. After that i moved to singapore for a few years, and then after that moved to seattle and thats where i am now. Welcome to Seattle where the weather is extremely depressing, the weather is beautiful when its sunny, traffic sucks and people cant drive.
I figured the traffic sucks part out already.
Ya…and then it gets worse when the weather starts to suck.
I guess I’m more attached to my home state than most people my age….I’m just not that mobile. While I’ve traveled a great deal – both work-related and personal adventures – I’ve only moved fourteen times since birth. Two of the moves during that time were within 1 1/2 mile radius of each other. So here’s my much less diverse list:
North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC – birth
319 Gloria Avenue, Winston-Salem, NC
Booneville, NC –
Clemmonsville Road, Winston-Salem NC – for 16 months
1429 Argonne Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC – for 38 months
285 Cedar Drive, Winston-Salem, NC – for 13 years
202 Jamison Dorm, UNC-G – for one year
202 Mendenhall Dorm, UNC-G – for one year
Lindley Park Apartments, Greensboro, NC – for four months
Eller Road, Lexington (Midway), NC – 3 years
1524 Denton Road, Thomasville, NC – 2 years
2435 Friendship-Ledford Road, Winston-Salem, NC – 11 years
2001 Motsinger Road, Winston-Salem, NC – 8 years
Saddlechase Lane, Winston-Salem, NC – 4 years
121 N. Spring Street, Winston-Salem, NC – one year
Ashe County, NC – ongoing since 2011
Needless to say any impending move due to the political climate of this state is not without a great deal many tears. Fortunately, I’ve found out that home is not a place….for me, home is anywhere I can be with Jim.
Apparently, it’s about typical for Scrogues, who seem to average 1-2 years per abode.
1. Sumter, SC (5)
2. Main St, Bishopville, SC #1 (2)
3. Main St, Bishopville, SC #2 (2)
4. Main St, Bishopville, SC #3 (2)
5. Ware County, Ga #1 (1)
6. Ware County, Ga #2 (2)
7. Brunel St. Waycross, Ga (1)
8. Garlington Hts, Waycross, Ga. (3)
9. Lagrange College, Lagrange, Ga (1)
10. Waycross, Ga. (0.5)
11. Atlanta, Ga (0.5)
12. Decatur, Ga (1)
13. Manjoru, SL, W. Africa (1.5)
14. Kenema, SL, W. Africa (0.5)
15. Houma, La #1 (1)
16. Houma, La #2 (3)
17. Athens, Ga (1)
18. Winterville, Ga (2)
19. St. Anne, IL (1)
20. Aroma Park, IL (1)
21. Kanakee, IL (2)
22. Keota St., Chicago (3)
23. Potts Point, Sydney, AUS (0.5)
24. Paddington, Sydney, Aus (1.5)
25. Woolhara, Sydney, Aus (2)
26. Winnetka, IL (3)
27. Mexico City (1)
28. NYC (1)
29. Winnetka, IL (2)
30. Santa Monica (0.5)
31. Winnetka (2.5)
32. Chicago (3)
33. Bloomington, IN (4)
34. Chicago (1)
35. Bloomington, IN
South 45%
West 1 %
East 2%
Midwest 37%
Non-US 11%
4 countries, 7 states.
I’m going to be giving it my best shot, I assure you. I won’t be grumpy with the wimmins, but I will be me. That’s probably more than enough to scare all but the craziest away…..
Does my mermaid look like Darryl Hannah in SPLASH?
Wichita, KS
Tulsa, OK
St. Louis, MO
Atlanta, GA
Duluth, MN
Lombard, IL (I started kindergarten here)
Tulsa, OK (I went to 3 first grades as we kept moving around town)
Independence, KS (started 7th grade here)
Ft. Dix, NJ (just 4 months for Basic and AIT)
Ft. Sill, OK (I was rather mad about this as I joined the Army to see the world and they sent me to Oklahoma)
Ray Barracks, Friedberg, Germany
Tulsa, OK (about 6 months)
Emporia, KS
Hannibal, MO
Pittsburg, KS
I’ve lived in three states but I guess I haven’t moved that much. I lived near Lombard, IL for 13 years RetroHound.
I agree with Frank that happiness isn’t where you are but a state of mind. But I don’t think you need a woman to make you happy. Although, there are things you could do with a woman that would make you temporarily very, very happy. I think it is acceptable to be mildly unhappy. Those people walking around huge smiles on their faces all the time worry me. I’ve known some who were like that who were actually pretty mentally ill.
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