GLENWOOD, Iowa - Pew Research Center reports about a fifth of adults moved because of COVID-19 or know someone that did. Here's a story of one family who made the move.
Glenwood, Iowa, native Christina Duran first moved to New York City as a young, single 22-year-old. Eventually, she met her husband and started a family but the pandemic changed their comfortable lifestyle.
"When the pandemic hit last year, we were in a three-bedroom apartment. Everything shut down in New York City, everyone was just locked in their houses. Here I'm looking at these three little kids, that are like, 'What are we gonna do?" Christina said.
That's when Christina and her husband decided to move back to the Heartland, calling it a "perfect storm" of circumstances.
"We looked at each other and said, 'What are we doing?'" Christina said. "Are we really going to go back and just sit?"
The move hasn't come without its challenges.
"It was an adjustment for my husband because he's Dominican. There's very little Dominican cuisine [or] Dominican culture here. In New York, it's like little Santo Domingo," Christina said.
But her three children, like her son Marcus, aren't having much trouble.
"When I first moved here, I just got popular for no reason," Marcus said.
Marcus gives credit to his background.
"It was just like, everyone thought I was cool because I was from New York," Marcus said.
Ultimately, Christina calls the move to Glenwood a "full-circle" moment.
"While I can't change the world, I can release three good humans into it and hope that little seed kind of grows and they can impact each one of the people they come into contact with and maybe we can get back to a more caring, kind, place for all of us to be," Christina said.
This story originally reported by Isabella Basco on 3NewsNow.com.
