In 2011, I was in college in the UK, managed to score a year internship in Chesterton, IN, a few miles from Gary. Lived in Valparaiso while I worked in Chesterton. Revisited same city in 2016, met my now wife who is from Crown Point. We got married and rented from a friend in the Miller Beach community neighbourhood of Gary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Beach, a block from some really wonderful beaches, dunes, nature reserves, etc. Never understood "lake life" but after having lived a "lake life" for a while, I really loved it. Walking my little old dog in the morning alone on the beach with a coffee, listening to some nice music, on a nice calm day, really was a some of the nicest, most peaceful times of my life.

I knew about Gary's history, but I really put it to the back of my head, I always thought it couldn't be that bad, could it? Or, I wouldn't be affected, would I? I knew the bad schools, crime, etc, I knew my wife and I would have kids, I always thought I'd deal with it when I'd need to deal with it, just didn't think it would affect me so seriously, so soon.