The stages of moving away from Hoover, Alabama
You know you’ll miss it eventually
These stages could probably apply to anyone in any state, but anyone from Hoover will know this all to be way too accurate. Whether you only moved 45 minutes away to Tuscaloosa or across the country for college, you’ll inevitably begin to long for some of the wonderful things Hoover has to offer.
The overly excited stage
This is the stage where you start to count down the days until you move to college. You and your friends can’t stop talking about how much you hate living here and how excited you are to get away from this place. But really, you’re secretly terrified, wondering if where you’re moving has a burger as good as Tip Top Grill, a Target within walking distance, and a mall with all of your favorite stores like The Galleria.
The sad stage
This is the stage right before you leave when you realize all of your friends are going different places and you can’t just drive over to their house at 2am to see them. This is also the stage when you begin to realize how great Hoover really is.
The ‘I’m okay with this’ stage
This is where you get accustomed to the new place you’ve moved to. You’ve started to make friends who are oddly similar to the friends you had in high school, you find your favorite restaurant, and you really start to make your new house a home.
The ‘I’m never going back’ stage
This is the stage where college is going so great for you that the absolute last thing you’re thinking about is going home. You get so distracted by school and partying with your new friends that you forget you haven’t seen your parents in almost two months and haven’t talked to some of your friends in even longer. There’s a whole other life you left back in Hoover, but you just don’t care at the moment.
The graduation stage
This is the final stage of your love-hate relationship with Hoover. As graduation approaches, you begin to wonder what you want to do and where you want to be after graduation, and the only place you can think about is the good ole Ham. As Birmingham is growing and changing you want to be in on all the action. You think about the childhood you had there and hope you can provide something as wonderful as that to your own children — and the only way to do so is by moving back to Hoover.