Just over one year has passed since we pulled away from our house for the last time in a rented pickup truck packed with 11 suitcases, five carry-ons, five personal items, a stroller, car seats, toys, activities, and snacks. With our home and cars sold, we and our three children left our beloved Baltimore behind.

My husband and I are native Baltimoreans. My mother, Cindy Futeral, a”h, graduated from Bais Yaakov in 1980, and I followed her 26 years later. After high school, I attended Maalot, Towson, and University of Maryland at Baltimore. My husband had been a student at Talmudical Academy, Rambam, and Ner Yisrael, followed by University of Maryland at College Park. We loved Baltimore with its calm lifestyle, where keeping up with the proverbial Cohens was not central to our success.