This is what I have learned so far about telling people we are moving:

1) There is no way to tell people you are moving to a big city without sounding like an asshole. How do you say you are moving to a place like NY without sounding like you are bragging? You can't. No matter what I say, or how I say it, this is the way it feels when the words come out: 'I am moving to a big and important city, and you ARE NOT.'

2) When you move back home from a large city, people often assume that you did not do so by choice. You left NY, LA, wherever, and crawled back home because you are a LOSER. My husband and I have been barraged with theses types of stories. At the end of them, the people telling them say something like, 'Of course, that won't be the case with the two of you ...' We aren't sure how long we will be in NY, so when we do tell people we are going, we decided to say that it is only for a year or two. I hate to admit it, but my pride dictates that the one-year disclaimer be added to the moving sentence. Maybe I can't say we are moving, or moving back, without feeling like an asshole because I AM an asshole (sigh).

3) It seems EVERYONE has an NY story--a visit, or they lived there 10 years ago, and they have to tell you all about it, and give you lots of useless and/or outdated advice.

4) A lot of Midwesterners are as prejudiced against people from both coasts as many coasters are against Midwesterners. Said coasters think Midwesterners are dim-witted conservative hicks, and said Midwesterners think coasters are loud, lazy, and arrogant.

So, we're not telling anybody else we are moving--we're sending a mass e-mail after we are gone.