Feliz Hebert.
Courtesy of Feliz Hebert.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Feliz Hebert, 69, who moved to Somers, Connecticut, to be closer to family, then ultimately moved back to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.In 2006, my husband and I moved back to Massachusetts after living in Florida for a while. I had grown up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and had also raised my children there, but we decided to settle on Cape Cod instead.We lived on Cape Cod for 12 years and built a life we loved. We made close friends, got into routines like going to the gym and golfing, and my sister lived nearby. At the time, we really thought we would stay there.But when I retired in 2021, I started to worry about whether we could keep up with the cost of living on Cape Cod. We didn't have an extravagant lifestyle, but it's an expensive place. We were also getting older, and I wanted to be closer to my children and grandchildren, who live in Hampden, Massachusetts.That year, we sold our home and moved to Somers, Connecticut. We thought it would be a good fit because it was only about 13 minutes from Hampden and 30 minutes from Springfield. We already knew people there and were familiar with the area.But the move didn't turn out the way we had planned. Our kids and grandkids had their own lives, and while I thought I'd be able to slide right back into my old friendships, those friends had moved on, too. And when it came down to it, while the cost of living was a little lower in some ways, the difference wasn't huge.I didn't have the same social life in a small townWithin the first month of living in Somers, I realized it wasn't for me. I felt regret — almost like buyer's remorse. But I wanted to give it a fair shot.
