We moved from Chicago to our rural lake house because I lost my job due to the pandemic. I hate it. Culturally, I'm not a fit. The women here don't work. The preschools & daycares start kids at 3 y.o., so, if a family has 2 kids, the wife is forced out of the workplace for 5 years, minimum. But, we've met SEVERAL families here with 4 children, so a lot longer for those ladies. Every mom I've met either works for the Catholic school where we enrolled our kids (for preschool), homeschools, or works part-time. And, look, I don't disapprove! If having a SAHP is your jam, then by all means! But I was conscripted into this lifestyle, it wasn't my choice.
In Chicago, we walked everywhere, and most of it was 5-10min away: school, daycare, the pool, parks, music lessons, cafes & restaurants... everywhere! Here, we drive everywhere, and a lot of things to do with the kids (camp, gymnastics, indoor playground, museums) are a 30min drive, one-way. We were lucky to find a preschool a 5min drive away--and that's going 60mph the whole way on country highways.
I've also had several near-misses with deer, turtles, chickens, and wild turkeys; and my husband hit a racoon. Our neighborhood had a fly infestation that lasted weeks, and meant that we couldn't go outside at all on the property. A duck laid 5 eggs in a bush next to our front walk. What is it Chunk says in the Goonies? "I love the dark, but I hate nature!"
Fortunately, I'm being rehired by my former employer, and we moving back to Chicago in 6 weeks! It can't come soon enough.