Me and my wife just left NYC after living there for 7/9 years, respectively. I was born in Oak Park and grew up in the Chi burbs, we just moved back to Lake Vi

Me and my wife just left NYC after living there for 7/9 years, respectively. I was born in Oak Park and grew up in the Chi burbs, we just moved back to Lake View East. We are both going through a very real, raw and emotional withdrawal from NYC, especially after living through COVID there. Like you said, after you live in NYC for a good number of years you realized you survived living in one of the most dynamic and chaotic environments on Earth; finally becoming a New Yorker in the process. Leaving NYC to literally anywhere else on the planet after that adaptation leaves a large emptiness and sorrow that can only be equated to a death. However, the worst (and also best) part is that NYC still exists and people continue to make the City thrive. With a normal death, the person dies and there is closure. When you leave NYC, a piece of you dies but the City lives on in a taunting fashion, always trying to lure you back. I believe we'll move back to NYC some time in the future and fill that emptiness but until that time comes, we'll revel in the things Chi provides that NYC does not: the Lake/Lake Shore trail/Lincoln Park, Wrigley(ville) and Midwestern hospitality.