A big move

So I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I would be willing to pay to take the chance (not a guarantee) for an increase in happiness. Am I willing to double my mortgage to an unholy amount for the chance to live in a better community and have a better chance at friendships for myself and my family?

I've had wonderful friends in my life, but it has been the one thing that has been missing from my life for many years now. I waited until my child started school because everyone kept telling me that I would meet people at the school and form friendships. Now that we have started at our local school it has become very obvious that I will not get what I was hoping for from our neighborhood. We have excellent schools, but we live in a community where the parents do not value being involved in the school. We live in an area of great diversity (which I love), but the cultures do not all value integration. The kids integrate well together, but the parents are simply not interested. I have always wanted the kind of community where parents are really involved in making their neighborhood school a great experience for their kids, and where families gather for casual barbecues and holiday parties. We don't have that here.

So, we're selling our house and we're moving. It terrifies us and excites us at the same time. We love our house. We've remodeled every square inch of it. We will be doubling our mortgage and at the same time downsizing to a smaller house. We will be leaving a life of financial stability for a life of tight budgets and penny pinching. It is a painful pill to swallow. It is a huge gamble. But, we think it will pay off in the end. Maybe not in dollars, but in an improved quality of life. Can you really put a price on that?