I can relate. I get attached to natural places too. They are generally disappearing with our increased population and it's sad going back to visit and seeing high rises where your secret fort was

...all good things… (Sorry) I’ve felt the same loss, one seems the loss of my life.. So, you move away, move on with your life - ‘don’t look back.’ At least that’s the advice I’ve been given by many. I try.. But when the beauty that surrounds you does little more than take you back to the beauty that was - WTF?

Hung on to my family homestead in Oregon through absolute Hell (there’s such a place). Not as much for myself as my daughters, our 5th generation on that land.. They’d hear it coming, actually get angry with the question … but I had to know: do you feel you’d like to have this place?

Had either - I wouldn’t be here ..I’d be at my 3rd job, working weekends to pay back the ‘cash award’ demanded by their mother.. Finally, my girls (in college) convinced me they’d rather be elsewhere… That’s what it finally took to leave a place everyone considered paradise (there was such a place).

Around 4 years later, both daughters working at the two nearest real towns, with jobs that could last a lifetime, they sound lost.. One recently asked if ‘something was wrong with her’ … as when riding with a car load of friends, she’s the only one who knows or admires the trees going by.. The other has an addiction to trekking into deep woods, while her sister ‘needs’ her walks through (Portland’s) Forest Park with her city-raised bf to make life feel right.

Their upbringing in the woods was beautiful and our place became ‘camp’ for numerous friends whose parents trusted their daughters with us. But, I’ve begun to wonder, was it right to instill such a love of nature in them? Even assuming either or both would ‘end up with it,’ should I have known there was the possibility of losing it? And should anyone love anything so deeply..?

Had volunteered with an ancient forest campaign in OR. Their picnic was just up the road from us. The Nature Walk was around the lake, so naturally we tagged along. Attempting to follow the leader, or guide … she & I backtracked to find the rest.. There they were, spellbound, as my oldest daughter was naming every indigenous (and invasive) plant they saw. She was made ‘our new guide!’

Stuff like that… Is it better to have loved & lost than never loved… I look for the lessons in life.. yet too many answers remain elusive. We feel your pain ~

Venting is healthy so apologize.

How we think about things is really relative . . . . relative to people who currently do not have enough food to eat, never had a home like that, or have a severe disability, are victims of wars, you are having a pretty good day.

Every once in a while I hear some ultra-affluent person committing suicide . . . for example, a person who made millions in the stock market, bought an extremely expensive home in South America, moved there with his wife, which seemed to be their dream . . . . . but then ended up committing suicide. No one seemed to understand it. I think I do. They separated themselves from society, stopped caring about others, they had the power to change other lives, but chose to hide, wrap themselves up into their own personal bubble, or illusion . . . . . and never realized that they were destroying themselves. They stopped fighting, if they ever had in the first place, surrendered to illusion, and ultimately, life meant nothing to them because there was nothing that they saw to fight for. There is more than enough to fight for. At times you may hear people say that what you give, you get back. That is not materially speaking. JMHO

You're not venting, you're just sharing your feelings. Nothing wrong with that. It's one of the things I love about our community here. =] I'm sorry you're feeling so sad over this. My advice is to cherish those childhood memories of that wonderful place. It's something I never had as a military brat. I was born overseas and until I was 16, we never lived in one place for more than 2-3 years. When my family moved to the SF Bay Area in 1976 I was a sophomore in HS and we wound up in a decent house, but hardly a ranch. It was the burbs. Like @KKGator, I'm not sentimental about places I've lived, but that may stem from my rather nomadic upbringing and life.

Cherish those memories, and make new ones. =]

That is a sad story, I could feel your loss in your words! It would have been better to have told the children, so they could have had some time to process the change. I guess to your parents, it was a nice surprise! Not, remembering that even children are people with feelings and connections. I am so sorry! Can you plan on buying yourself a ranch one day? You could do as you please there.

Venting is part of what folks do here. I can see why
the loss of the ranch would make you feel depressed. Emotions and feelings, good or bad, can be attached to a place. I grew up in a rural area on a ranch and my dad and stepmom still live there. I was just there last weekend and it was so peaceful (if you find quiet and isolation peaceful anyway). I think about what will happen after they're gone and I worry sometimes. The loss of these kind of places can be really hard.

You must have felt so happy and secure there and then it was gone. How fortunate were you that you had that experience and can look back and dream. I feel envious of you in that instance.

Sorry you are feeling bad.
Hope you cheer up soon.

I know that feeling. I grew up in the middle of the woods. There was a clearing where red ants had numerous hills, huge hills too. Ants were and still are my favorite insect.

Anyway, my dad sold the property and the new rednecks bulldozed the clearing and turned it into an ATV track.

Whenever I drove passed, I felt empty.. and disgusted at how humans just destroy something great for their own pleasure.

But,that's what this community is here for,expressing loss,be it personal like a loved ones passing, or memories of your youth and happier times,Life is made up of memories,some good,others bittersweet....