[KJS]

Good post Kyle. As you know I am also a Cleveland-Seattle transplant. Moved here in 1991 back when it was actually affordable. Honestly, I rarely think of moving back home but I do think about a life more like my back-home friends and family, with home ownership the main plus on their side. To work hard 50 weeks a year for a salary that is much larger than anyone you know back home and not have a house is a weird feeling. But I am not that eager to buy a house in general, so it is as not as pointed for me as you, I think.

You do have one advantage over me when I think about relocating for the purposes of living somewhere less expensive, that being that it appears perhaps your income would remain relatively the same. That is not the case for me and a lot of other people. Part of the reason Seattle is so expensive, duh, is the salaries are high. So I have to consider making less if I move. Plus I work in software and there are not that many centers of software companies outside of expensive areas. So I think you do have a leg up on a lot of people if you can relocate to a cheaper place and still make good $$$. I envy that flexibility.

I think you nailed it when you contrasted Seattle and Cleveland. I agree with you on the main differences: weather, people and outside activities and cost. Weather is a huge one for me. It is also something that I find easy to rationalize away ("it's not THAT bad, so it gets a bit cold wear a parka and hat") when I am not there but as soon as I do go home it makes me miserable. I have noticed over the years of talking to my folks and my sister that they seem to have nothing but extremes there anymore either: basically summer with intense heat and humidity and cold, snowy winter. Generally speaking of course. If I were thinking of moving back home I would certainly make myself spend a week there in January to see how I dealt. My parents get pretty down after months of cold and snow and I think I would too.

The people thing is a bigger issue. I love Cleveland folks for a lot of things. They are not pretensious, very game for doing fun stuff, polite and generally pretty laid back. I always have a great time just chilling out when I do go home. But they do, generally speaking, lack a drive that I find attractive in people. That goes for work and outside activities. Not everyone, of course, but a lot of folks, particularly those with children. And as you know nearly everyone there has them. It is just a very easy place to have a house with wife and a couple kids and just do the parent thing along with everyone else on your block. And I find that people there are pretty attentive to their kids which means even less time for stuff like being dedicated to baseball and stuff like it. Plus I am someone who feeds off the energy of people around me. When people I know or people I am exposed to are doing a lot of passion projects I get motivated. When they are not I tend to stagnate more myself. I find Seattle people to be very active and engaged and I strive off that.

As a 37 year old who is married and no kids (never having them) I would say also think long and hard about how you see your life progressing vis a vis your back home friends too. I knew a lot of people in my early 20s that were tons of fun and we spent a lot of time playing sports and cards, doing projects together, etc.. Over the next decade all except a handful got married and many had kids. You see them less and less as they retreat into family life. If this is where you think you want to go, right on, you will probably find a nice community of like-minded people that may include your present day friends. If you might go a different route definitely consider that these current friendships will evolve and perhaps disintegrate as your friends' family lives develop. You may remain close but in terms of time spent doing things together it will be a big change.

For me, being in Seattle allows me to quite easily find other childless adults who are still engaged socially. The wife and I play softball all summer, we still go to bars, we do tons of stuff like art shows, movies, etc.. with friends our age (and many younger folks since a lot of the late 30s crowd here is married with kids too). I think maintaining an active social/cultural life in Cleveland as a childless, educated, culturally aware person 37 year old would be more difficult. That is just not a big demographic there. And obviously, Seattle is just a more vibrant city.

Last point is that my friendships in the years that I have lived here have developed in such a way that they are better than any I had growing up. Just a function of time and the fact that I have stuck around (did live in B'ham for 4 years and Thailand for 2) and grown closer with these folks. You might find that if you decide to stay in Seattle that some day your friendships here will equal those back home in terms of their positive impact on your life.

Good luck with this decision.

KJS

PS. If you do move back, my cousin plays in 2 baseball leagues, one wood bat. So he could help you get involved with that.