“I grew up in Detroit, transferred to Dallas in my early 20s for my first job, then transferred to Boston. I loved living in different big cities and was having a great time. I met my husband, a Rochester native, in Boston and we moved to San Francisco for a year to try it out. Loved it, but we learned we are more ‘East Coast’ folks so we came back east and headed south, calling Orlando our home for nine years.

“It was after we had our kids and realized we needed to be closer to family that my husband made the statement ‘I think we need to move back to Rochester.’  ‘What?’ I asked in disbelief. The guy whose goal was to be done with snow forever? I, you see, was beyond thrilled. I fell in love with Rochester when I first came to meet his family in the mid ’90s. People play Euchre and they drink pop. Oh to be back in the land of Euchre and pop drinkers! (You see — outside of the Great Lakes region — people have no idea what these two things are.)

“So it’s the short commute to work with no traffic (compared to Boston, San Fran, and Orlando, Rochester has NO TRAFFIC), the beautiful four seasons (yes, my husband puts up with winter), and the affordability (our mortgage is less than our rent was in San Francisco — and that was almost 20 years ago!) that keeps us loving Rochester. And let’s not forget the schools! Our kids are thriving in school, and the sports and music programs are some of the best out there.

“And I can’t end this without mentioning the airport. It’s so nice and small and you can get anywhere you need to go. After having to routinely maneuver through the airports in the other cities we’ve lived, Rochester is a breath of fresh air. I’m also finally realizing that Rochester is a major college town! I’m meeting more and more folks that came here for school and never left. I could go on and on … but I’ll stop here and just say that our Rochester years have been some of our best!” 

—Diane Smith, Webster