The Curse of Living Somewhere Great

So my sister and her family live in this fabulous place. They ski every possible free moment in the Winter (not to mention most of the Fall & Spring too), the kids belong to ski teams, ski clubs, etc. In the Summer they mountain bike and camp. There is culture and beauty and beautiful outdoor spaces. The sun shines all the time. People want to live there, but there is not much in the way of employment. Plenty of very smart and very educated people move there, only to end up waiting tables or growing organic fruit and selling it on the side of the road or whatever. My Brother-in-Law (B-i-L) was lucky. Eccentric multi-millionaire (EM-M) who owned the engineering company he used to work for in VT took a shine to him, so when EM-M closed the VT office, he moved B-i-L and family out to Taos -- including a big raise, subsidized mortgage and school tuition for the kids. That was about five years or so ago -- they have a GREAT life out there. An enviable life. Every time I look at the garbage and dog crap strewn around my own neighborhood, or listen to car alarms or punk teenagers screaming in the streets, I think wistfully of my sister and her family living this idyllic life in the New Mexican Rockies. I admit it, I've been jealous for years. Anyway, my father called me on Monday to tell me that B-i-L was laid-off last Friday. Apparently EM-M has a cash-flow problem and is folding B-i-L's company. Yikes. So, now unless B-i-L wants to be (and can make enough money as) a ski instructor up at the ski valley, they're probably going to have to move. And move far away. I just can't imagine it, having the best life and having to give it up like that. At least living as I do in misery, things have pretty much always been this way, so I can only really imagine what I'm missing. In their case, I just can't imagine them being very happy in, say, New Jersey.