My extended family is in this area and I always spent the summers here. I moved alot as a kid VA, CT, and upstate NY. I finished HS in upstate NY and joined the ARMY requesting to be stationed at FT Drum where I graduated HS. When I left the ARMY I realized there are few career opportunies in northern NY and the economy is struggling up there. I was dating my now wife then and I knew I was going to move here, she decided to come with me. She was seven years into a job there and moving here meant starting from scratch for both of us.
Southeastern CT is not an easy place to start out for a young couple. We have loves and hates for this place. We are unsure when we could ever afford to buy a house here and the tourism can be a pain in the *** but we both love all the other things this area has to offer. We have found opportunities that never would have existed in NY and are slowly gaining on things after 5 years. My job allows me the option to live anywhere and my pay wold not change as I work from home. We have talked about this and decided to stay even though we could live pretty comfortibly in NY now where my inlaws are (my wife gets homesick).
Bottom line is, as tough as living here can be, I cant think of another place I would want to live, and if you want something bad enough you make it happen. Just an aside, it is a lot more manageable without children and we don't have any. We consider ourselves lucky to live in a place with so much to offer in such a close proximity and such beautiful scenery (once you get away from heavy populated areas).