How Suburban Jungle helped one family find their place the second time around
When Diana Lee and her husband moved from Virginia to New Jersey, they thought they’d done everything right. They researched towns, joined Facebook groups, toured countless neighborhoods, and asked friends, family, and locals for advice along the way. And because Diana was pregnant with their first child, there was an added sense of urgency to get settled before the baby arrived.
“We felt pressure to say ‘yes’ to something,” Diana says. “We wanted to be settled.”
With their timeline getting tighter, the couple chose a New Jersey town, packed up their lives, and made the move to be closer to family. But once life with a newborn actually began, Diana realized something important: sometimes you don’t fully understand what matters in a town until you’re living there.
That realization eventually led Diana and her family to Suburban Jungle and, ultimately, to Westfield, New Jersey, where they found the sense of community and belonging they’d been missing.
Their story is also something more families are experiencing today: re-suburbing or, as their Suburban Jungle Strategist Alli Levine explained, re-evaluating an initial move to the ‘burbs. “We’re seeing it more and more,” Alli says. “People make a move to the suburbs, start settling in, and realize the town isn’t exactly right – so they start over. And we’re here to help.”
The Pressure to Pick the “Right” Place
Looking back on their initial Virginia-to-New-Jersey move, Diana and her husband felt confident in their decision. They specifically focused on communities close to the city but also close to her in-laws, knowing they wanted their daughter to grow up near family.
“We did try to do our research,” Diana says. “We asked around, we looked at Facebook groups, and we hung out in the towns for a little bit.” But looking back, Diana says they, like many other families making a big move, “didn’t know what we didn’t know.” And once Maddie arrived, little details that didn’t seem important during their initial search suddenly became very important.
“As soon as Diana’s maternity leave started, she felt isolated,” says Alli. “We hear this a lot – you’re suddenly home with a newborn in a community that isn’t familiar, and that’s when you start to spot the disconnects.” For Diana, it was little details like a lack of sidewalks, which made walks with Maddie challenging. Her town also didn’t have an easily accessible downtown for quick errands or to hunker down with a stroller and a cup of coffee.
At first, she tried to dismiss her growing doubts.
“I really tried to ignore it for as long as I could,” Diana says. “I tried to make excuses, like, ‘oh, it’s because I’m stressed out, I have a newborn, I’m not sleeping.’” But deep down, she knew something wasn’t working. “I knew the town wasn’t the right fit for us…at the same time, I felt a lot of disappointment and anger at myself. Like, ‘you didn’t pick the right place.’”
Discovering Suburban Jungle (and the Idea of Re-suburbing)
While searching online to try and figure out what to do next, Diana landed on Suburban Jungle, and the concept resonated immediately.
“I looked into it and learned what Suburban Jungle’s purpose was,” Diana says. “The goal was to help people find their town first before finding a place.”
After feeling guilty and frustrated about wanting to move again so soon, the approach felt validating. Instead of feeling like they had failed, Diana realized their priorities had simply changed, and it was okay to start over.
Soon after, she connected with Alli, and together they started unpacking what hadn’t worked in their first move and what they truly wanted in a community. It became the beginning of their “re-suburbing” journey, this time with a much clearer understanding of what would make a town feel like home.
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Why Westfield Felt Different
With Alli’s support and insights from the Suburban Jungle team, Diana says “round 2” felt completely different – and they felt completely confident in their decision-making.
“We probably wouldn’t have made the move without Suburban Jungle,” she says. During the process, she also leaned into Suburban Jungle’s town-first approach – and that finding the right house and finding the right town are two completely different things.
Working with Alli, Diana says, gave the family a much deeper understanding of what everyday life would really look like in each community they visited. Instead of simply touring homes, Alli helped them focus on how each town would feel to live in day to day.
“Going into a town for an afternoon is very different from talking to someone who’s been there for years,” Diana says.
As they toured different New Jersey suburbs with the town-first mindset, Diana started noticing the things she had missed during their initial search – not just homes, but community rhythms. She loved several of the communities they toured – then they visited Westfield.
“It was a beautiful fall day, and everyone was outside,” Diana says. Families strolled around downtown Westfield, kids rode bikes, and people stopped to chat – and almost everywhere she looked, there were sidewalks. “I remember thinking, wow, that’s the kind of community I want. I want to know my neighbors and be around other families with young kids. I want to build that kind of community.” Most importantly, she says, “I could imagine our family growing up here.”
The Difference the Right Town Makes
Now, just over a year after moving to Westfield, Diana says the difference in daily life has been enormous – and extremely positive. On move-in day, she says, she brought Maddie to the playground near their new house as the movers unloaded boxes. While pushing her daughter on the swings, she struck up a conversation with another mom nearby – a mom who turned out to live two houses down from their new home.
“Right off the bat, I made a friend!” Diana says.
Since then, the family has built meaningful routines and plenty of connections. On weekends, Maddie takes swim lessons at the local YMCA before heading to plenty of different activities around town. Diana and her husband have met their neighbors through playground visits, classes, and community events. Her husband even joined the local community band after being introduced by their next-door neighbor.
While all of this has helped Diana settle in, one of the most meaningful Westfield experiences has been joining the Westfield Green Team, a local sustainability initiative that aligns with her professional work and personal passions.
“It was really meaningful to find a way to contribute to the community while also connecting with other people who care about sustainability,” Diana says. Through the group, Diana has volunteered at local events, including the town’s Free Market, which helps residents donate and reuse household items instead of sending them to landfills.
That involvement helped transform Westfield from simply the place they live into a place where they truly belong. “Now that we’re in a place where we love being here, we love our current house, and we really feel like this is our place. That feeling of belonging makes such a difference for the rest of your life.”
Looking back, Diana says one of the biggest lessons was understanding that priorities can shift dramatically after becoming parents – and she encourages other city families to think about their long-term needs before committing to a community. Before having a child, for example, walkability didn’t seem essential. But as soon as Maddie was born, those seemingly insignificant details became some of the most important parts of daily life.
Her other piece of advice? If something feels off, lean in and listen.
“If you’re in a place and it doesn’t feel right, listen to that inner voice,” Diana says. “That feeling doesn’t go away. It only gets worse the longer you’re in a place that doesn’t feel like home.”
For more client stories, visit Suburban Jungle’s blog page on our website.
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