A hometown can be loved without being asked to supply every part of your life.

A place can be genuinely loved and still not be everything. Hometowns get asked to supply work, friendship, opportunity, and a whole future, and when they cannot manage all of it, leaving is treated as a verdict on the place and the people in it. Those are different matters. Loving where you came from sits perfectly well beside needing something it does not have.

If you left, keep one real connection alive rather than a general fondness. If you stayed, try not to read someone’s departure as a judgement on you.