Hm. First question: If I could move anywhere, where would I move?
I wouldn't. I love where I live, and while there are innumerable other cool places, and other places that could be better in terms of career, economy, etc., I love living in Lansing and think it has a great mix of features that will allow me to be happier here than anyplace else.
Other than that? I fell in love with Colorado, and although it reeks of liberality, Fort Collins was a nifty little town in a gorgeous area. For about two weeks I was researching taking the Colorado bar.
I don't think there is a perfect place to live, just a place that is perfect for a particular person/family.
Lansing is incredible for us because it is big enough that there's always a lot going on, much of that because of the state government and MSU being here. It's small enough that it's hard for one's commute to exceed fifteen minutes. It's small enough that one can walk across town. On the way home from the local shopping center yesterday, I passed by an up-and-coming couple of blocks of rejunenated mainstreet-type places, a good hospital, a baseball stadium, the city market, the state capitol, the county courthouse, the state supreme court and court of appeals, one of the municipal power plants, and a lovely river. And I live in a quiet residential neighborhood. I like that kind of density. Makes it easy to really enjoy one's hometown. We've got everything here. Yeah, that includes some slums and the odd serial killer (that was last summer...), but it also includes a big university and all of the good stuff that goes along with that, including, incidentally, all kinds of public service and volunteer organizations. It seems even the poor people in Lansing have pretty good resources.
The economy here sucks, and has most of my life, but the legal community is small enough that by cultivating some key relationships, the odds of me making a good career here are high. And the adjunct that supervised a mediation role-play this morning works a block away, across the street from the Capitol.
Also, great lakes. And Great Lakes.
Yeah, I know the point of this thread was not to wax lyrical about mid-Michigan. Which isn't really my point either. My point is that you aren't gonna find the perfect place to live by looking for the perfect place to live. Because chances are you aren't the only one to think so, and it'll get crowded and expensive beyond all reason. On a list of the top 500 places to live, I doubt Lansing even places. But for us, it is absolutely perfect, to the point where we are pretty much abandoning our plans/hopes to move up North in a few years. Sometimes it just happens. I have no advice on how to make it happen, other than be open to finding the neat stuff about wherever you end up, and then moving on if it doesn't work out the way you want.
