View Full Version : Things I miss
I'm not sure where to put this, but feel free to add what you miss.
Off and on for the last two weeks, it's sinking in that a lot of the places I love to go in the mountains are gone. I mean, the canyons and mountains are still there, but the ones I remember, the ones I can drive in my mind from memory-those are gone. I miss Poudre Canyon-it will never be the same after the High Park Fire, and that was a place I have gone since before I was born, since my mom had a job driving up there when she was pregnant with me. I still miss how it was, but was working to get used to it. Now every one of the other familiar canyons just ravaged: Big Thompson Canyon, LeftHand Canyon, Boulder and Eldorado Canyons. I drove Big Thompson so often, in every season, I recognized certain rocks and trees, bends in the road and views of the river. I miss them. I miss the little restaurants in Lyons, often a stopping place after a snowshoe or hike up in LeftHand Canyon. I know the roads will be rebuilt, and I will eventually get used to them, the memory of the old ones will fade, and things will be OK. But for now, I feel like I lost some of what I consider "home" in the wider sense and I miss my home, my whole home.
I was thinking about that when they were having all those fires. Yes, it will grow back.......but not in time for most people. What a loss you must feel. And people can rebuild their houses, but it will be in the middle of all this fairly long-term loss. I feel really bad for you and those people. And think of all the wildlife that must have perished, or lost their habitat.
This isn't the same, but my Honda dealership/service moved to a totally different part of the area. I used to drive this area alot. It was a very rural area just 15 years ago. When I went for the first time the other day, I got lost. There was nothing the same.........all subdivisions/businesses/new roads.....and I'm talking wall to wall for something like 25 miles. I just wanted to cry. All the lovely natural areas wiped out. Now its just ugly. I miss the old places.....
Wish I could imagine that some day it will be the same, but it never will. :(
Long before my time :) a good chunk of western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota was covered in a type of forest called "Big Woods (http://wattmans.com/images/NerstrandBigWoods.jpg)". It's been eradicated over the years as people have encroached on the area. But when we lived in the southwest Twin Cities, there still was a remnant of Big Woods near our house. I loved going back there and enjoying the filtered sunlight and quiet and the wildlife along the lake it bordered. That area is now a bunch of McMansions. :( Fortunately, there still is a state park in Minnesota dedicated to the Big Woods.
I am saddened by the damage from the floods and wildfires. Some of it may come back sooner or later I suppose. I miss the pretty mountain valleys that I have memories of visiting when I was a kid and are now crowded with ski area condos, McMansions, and golf courses that few common folks can afford. But what I really miss are the green pine trees that have been devastated by beetles and are now reddish silhouettes of dying needles or gray ghosts of trunks and limbs after the needles have dropped.
The top of St. Helens...I still remember it---it looked like an ice cream cone that was melting, a perfect soft rounded peak.
ETA: Rosie, I'm sorry---I sense your grief. Just so sad.
I miss the west end of Galveston Island. And much of Bolivar peninsula. Time, tide, and Hurricane Ike.
Many of the horse farms where I spent so much time riding and being with wonderful horses and great people are gone; most of the land has been built upon. Driving past, you'd never know there were ever large, fenced-in fields dotted with grazing horses and barns filled with the wonderful smells of horses, hay and leather. I'd love to be able to go back in time about 30-35 years and just drive around to see what the former rural areas of NJ looked like. (I tried the timeline feature of Google maps and was sad to see that our new condo development is built on what was a very large farm.)
gimmethesimplelife
9-28-13, 10:13pm
I miss the sense of Phoenix not being as endlessly sprawling as it is these days. I miss feeling like Tucson was an overgrown small town - now it's a metro area of one million plus. I miss the sense of community that used to exist in Flagstaff, AZ, when I first went to college there in 1986. It's now been taken over by corporate America and Wal Mart drove all the moms and pops out unless they had a very specialized niche. I miss what Arizona once was compared to what it now is. I'm just glad the most of the population here is concentrated in two large urban areas and there is still a lot of undeveloped land to the East, North, and West.
I miss the feeling of walking around in Nogales, Mexico, and feeling safe in doing so. I think I may miss Mexico once I get on ObamaCare as I have leaned on Mexico for medical and dental a lot due to not having insurance.
I miss the citrus groves that used to dot Phoenix.....every mid March when the citrus trees are in blossom there used to be a city-wide smell of citrus blossoms. Rob
Rob - Having only lived in phx for 3.5 years, I love hearing your perspective
Seems like alot of people would miss all these things that everyone has mentioned. So why is it that so much is being destroyed and so many people seem okay with it? Are there just alot of zombies out there?
SteveinMN
9-29-13, 12:10pm
So why is it that so much is being destroyed and so many people seem okay with it? Are there just alot of zombies out there?
I don't know that much can be done in a practical way about the devastation caused by forest fires. In our case (Big Woods), I did attend zoning meetings to protest. In the end, the developer was ordered to preserve a remnant of woods that abuts a city park that has been created since the houses were built.
But I suspect too many people are busy with their own lives, trying to make a living and facing more immediate crises and/or being diverted by sports/television/ideological rhetoric to pay much attention to some favorite spot that is no longer near where they live. There will have to be many more of us banding together past our differences to make those in charge pay attention to us rather than the powerful economic interests which have government in their pockets.
I miss the quietude we used to have...before everyone was hooked up to cell phones, iPads, etc. Maybe I see more of it because I work with young people on a campus. But, no, I don't think that's it.
I also miss the Sunday "blue laws" where you couldn't go shopping or anything and HAD to have a day of rest.
Gardenarian
9-30-13, 2:39pm
I miss seeing all the stars and the Milky Way. There are places where you can go and still be stunned by the night sky - but light pollution is now pretty much world-wide.
It does seem like the world is a lot noisier than it used to be. LIBRARIES are a lot noisier than they used to be, for sure. The whole idea of the library as a quiet place has been lost.
gimmethesimplelife
9-30-13, 4:20pm
I miss seeing all the stars and the Milky Way. There are places where you can go and still be stunned by the night sky - but light pollution is now pretty much world-wide.
It does seem like the world is a lot noisier than it used to be. LIBRARIES are a lot noisier than they used to be, for sure. The whole idea of the library as a quiet place has been lost.This is so true about libraries. I remember the summer I was 14 I spent a lot of time at the library as it was a nice, clean, safe, and air-conditioned place to go and on top of that I've always loved reading anyway. And it used to be so quiet, if I ever did talk there I would be sure to whisper. Now the library is loud and people carry on conversations as if they were outside. Very annoying. I find it ironic that there is an quiet study area room where it is strictly enforced - no talking and cell phones off. Rob
The things I miss are more feelings than things. I suppose they come from things lost, but really it's how I felt inside that mattered.
When I used to believe that I could always find a way to survive, if I just did X or Y or Z. In these days when a medical crisis can wipe out every penny you've saved, when there's no such thing as employer loyalty or job security, and when a handful of speculators can make my investments disappear in minutes, I'm no longer so confident.
When it was easy to make friends. At 50, in an insular world, it's very different.
The feeling of being able to get on a plane and go somewhere new, and feel reasonably assured I would find a way to feel safe and be welcomed.
The sisters I have lost to addiction, back when they were still strong and funny and present.
The contrast with how I feel these days, when I feel I need to be so cautious, so productive, so "on" all the time just to keep up with work, money, life. I remember days when I literally was surprised when dusk came, because the day had eased by in play and exploration. Now it seems a great risk just to take an afternoon off.
Things like that affect me more than not being able to go back to a specific place any more. I find new sacred places every day. But I can't get those things back.
ApatheticNoMore
9-30-13, 6:56pm
When I used to believe that I could always find a way to survive, if I just did X or Y or Z. In these days when a medical crisis can wipe out every penny you've saved, when there's no such thing as employer loyalty or job security, and when a handful of speculators can make my investments disappear in minutes, I'm no longer so confident.
I think I came to this gradually as part of understanding the world. I lost my first real job to which I gave everything 2 1/2 years in due to a recession (the dot com bust). Then I started reading more and more about the housing bubble when houses got bubbly a few years later, in part because housing was way out of my league, at the age at which it might otherwise be normal for me to consider buying (but on one income that's always hard) But in doing this I realized how instable the financial world, never mind housing, but other investments was in general.
So it's old hat kinda, it's just growing up, realizing how the world works (as opposed to some conception you had when you didnt' know anything about the world). Still that's intellectual knowledge, mostly I do believe I will survive (though when I'm unemployed I get panicky - hence why I end up in less than ideal jobs - I get into a take anything to survive mentality).
The sisters I have lost to addiction, back when they were still strong and funny and present.
oh yea I relate to this. The vacancy sometimes. The lights are on but noone's home.
I also miss the dead (as does everyone who has had a significant enough loss I guess). I want the days when they were alive and even healthy back more than I can say, but they are lost in the distant past, though I can see it as if it was yesterday and be there.
ToomuchStuff
10-1-13, 12:42am
I miss conversations, I have had with quite a few people who have since passed on.
I miss having a black or at least dark blue night sky, rather then all the towers around causing the night sky to be purple and bright enough to read by.
I miss a get together that was had, once a year, by several families where we have known each other for now three generations. Sadly the first generation has all but gone. (was my favorite holiday)
Sometimes I miss the TV going off the air at night. (wouldn't stay up so late if some movie I had never seen was on). One that I miss, that I can KINDA recreate, is driving around, listening to the car RADIO, through ONE speaker.
gimmethesimplelife
10-1-13, 1:17am
The things I miss are more feelings than things. I suppose they come from things lost, but really it's how I felt inside that mattered.
When I used to believe that I could always find a way to survive, if I just did X or Y or Z. In these days when a medical crisis can wipe out every penny you've saved, when there's no such thing as employer loyalty or job security, and when a handful of speculators can make my investments disappear in minutes, I'm no longer so confident.
When it was easy to make friends. At 50, in an insular world, it's very different.
The feeling of being able to get on a plane and go somewhere new, and feel reasonably assured I would find a way to feel safe and be welcomed.
The sisters I have lost to addiction, back when they were still strong and funny and present.
The contrast with how I feel these days, when I feel I need to be so cautious, so productive, so "on" all the time just to keep up with work, money, life. I remember days when I literally was surprised when dusk came, because the day had eased by in play and exploration. Now it seems a great risk just to take an afternoon off.
Things like that affect me more than not being able to go back to a specific place any more. I find new sacred places every day. But I can't get those things back.Yes.....I understand much of what you have said here. Quality of life - that is what I hear you are missing. And some trust and some faith. I think there's been reductions in this for almost everyone. And not just in America, due to globalization, the gift that keeps on giving, this one is going viral worldwide I'm afraid.
I also can relate to what you have said about getting on a plane for somewhere new and having faith that it would work out. When I graduated college, I left for Portland, Oregon, in 1991 with very little money and a lot of faith. And it worked out OK overall. Today I would not recommend a young person pull something like this - everything has changed.
Some good things have happened in recent years, I grant that, it's not all bad - but it sure does seem like quality of life in general for most people has taken a dive and this one goes right on up through the social classes until you get to the very top. What we have gained - to me it does not seem worth the reduction in the quality of life. Rob
I think I'm going to miss the Scenic Buffalo River area. Huge problems right now with a commercial hog farm operation. A year of fighting and still AR allowed it to go in this summer. They guaranteed all these safety measures would be in place so it wouldn't affect the waterways but I heard yesterday there is already problems with the pond liners failing.
Things I miss . . . talking around a dinner table post-meal where everyone is engaged in the conversation, not looking at their phones - checking email, searching for photos of a trip that you can describe to me, announcing the score of a game . . you get the idea!
I miss that sense of innocence and unbridled optimism about the world that I had when I was a child, back when I believed all people were basically good, fairly trustworthy, and there was a shared sense of community standards and community...
I think I'm going to miss the Scenic Buffalo River area. Huge problems right now with a commercial hog farm operation. A year of fighting and still AR allowed it to go in this summer. They guaranteed all these safety measures would be in place so it wouldn't affect the waterways but I heard yesterday there is already problems with the pond liners failing.
A similar thing is happening here Float On. They're putting a huge hog operation in next to Sugar Creek. How is it that it always goes the way of the money-makers with absolutely no thought to anything else? Its disgusting. And you know there will be problems..........always.
Every day that I get older, the world speeds on and I miss the things that are no longer cherished. I miss a lack of pretension that used to exist where I live now. I miss long conversations now that everyone is in a hurry. I miss all the wild places forever gone whether through human or natural destruction. I miss a life that used to make sense - everything now feels disjointed and chaotic. I miss a time when one could actually drive somewhere without having all your defenses up as roads are so crowded. And tonight, I miss Colorado :( My sojourn to the front range is over and I am back in the flatlands. As a native Coloradan, I am convinced that the mountains, rocks and rivers get into your blood and never leave.
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