When your new home isn’t new to you

We have moved back to Augusta, Georgia, where we lived for six months in 2013. This will be the second city I’ve lived in a second time (Colorado Springs is the first) and the third state I’ve repeated (Virginia, Colorado, and Georgia). Moving back to somewhere we’ve lived before can be an interesting experience, and I’m hoping to explore Augusta more because we’ll be here for a longer stint. Here are some of my thoughts on living places more than once.

Recent moves

The pros:

1. You have insider knowledge on where to live, what to do, and all that jazz. You also know where things are (though there is something special about having to use a GPS to find a grocery store).
2. Your favorite places are likely to still be there.
3. You probably know people who live there and may have a social life as soon as you arrive.

The cons:

1. Depending on how long ago you lived there and the size of the town, you may have already done everything. The Army isn’t known for picking fun, trendy locations for posts.
2. Things don’t always change that fast. Hated the traffic? Wished for something like a stand-alone grocery store (looking at you, Lawton, Oklahoma)? Your dreams of making that home a better place may not have come to fruition yet.

Not so recent moves

The pros:

1. Places can change a lot. When I lived in Colorado as a kid, there was nothing on the eastern corridor of town. When I moved back, the whole area was completely developed. It was almost like a new city with tons of new restaurants and places to check out.
2. But your favorite places can still be there. One restaurant I remembered fondly was a pizza parlor called Fargo’s. It’s an Old West saloon with buffalo heads and waitresses in Gibson Girl-esque uniforms, and it’s still going strong in 2017. I loved being able to take Mac back to locations I visited as a child and to share memories of my childhood with him.

The cons:

1. It may not be how you remember it. Colorado Springs was muchhhhhhhh smaller when we left in 1996. While I didn’t mind the resources and perks of a large city, I did miss the city I lived in as a kid.
2. If you’re military-connected, the likelihood of you knowing tons of people who are still around may not be so good. This is part of the reason why I always try to get involved in non-military activities and organizations.

Have you lived anywhere more than once?