What do you miss that's ultimately inconsequential but still deeply personal?

They keep tearing down buildings that have personal significance to me. My grade school, my first job, my favorite skate spots, teenage hangout spots, etc. Some spots became better things but most were turned into parking lots. I know Joni was singing about nature and whatnot, but Big Yellow Taxi hits me hard.

The forest near my childhood home. It's still there. I'm not.

Last summer I went there, and the place was so familiar to me that I recognized individual trees.

All the trees and groves around me to build yet another fucking gas station.

Dead pets. Miss em. Wish they could have stayed with me forever.

Playing in a band. It's never been easier to play on my own, and in some ways I think it's hard to be in a band since it involves a lot of compromise. But I do miss the feeling of regularly playing and making music with friends.

Mechanical fountain soda machines with free refills. This stuff costs like 2 cents and is always the best way to drink soda, but they seem to be dying out and disappearing.

Playing video games with friends. As I get older and tastes diverge it feels hard to get a group together to play games. It's even more rare to play games together in the same room, staying up late into the night.

Finally, I miss that feeling that life is ahead of me and the ability to focus on dreaming and thinking about the future. As I get older, a lot more stuff is in the rear view mirror, the possibilities of the future seem more limited, and it's easy to look back and question how you spent all that time in the past. I get more sad and scared thinking about the future, even though I'm sure that good things will happen too.

I used to have this yellow dress that I loved and I am pretty sure I accidentally donated it like 10 or 15 years ago, but every 6 to 10 months or so I still think about that dress.

I miss incandescent Christmas lights from the 70s.

the colors they had were warm and magical.

you could go down the street at night and the whole neighborhood was filled with this technicolor dream rainbow that you just can't make anymore.

The Choco Taco, rip

This is just stupid of me, but I hate how they changed the grocery store I had been going to for a decade. Everything's there, just in a different place. It has been over a year and I'm still not over it.

The city made my grandparents cut down their weeping willow because it was taller than the electrical lines. That tree was like 40 years old and massive. Then they cut down all of the willows at the city park to build in a stupid marina. We used to have willows.

Two things.

A specific spicy pepper pasta sauce from twenty years ago.

And my cat.

I wish we could roll back the last 30 years and have a do over. Everything is shit anymore.

Quiznos subs

I miss places that weren't overrun with traffic.

I lived in LA right at the end of "it's LA. Everything is 20 minutes from everything else." Which was mostly true other than a rush hour that politely lasted from 3:30 to 6:00pm. Only places like The Valley or Long Beach or Montebello/West Covina took 30+ minutes.

Every time I visit now, everything is stop and go traffic. Not just there, every major city. Road infrastructure hasn't, and can't realistically, keep up with basic population growth. Sprawl is a disease. It's urban planning cancer.

Inconsequential and deeply personal?

My happiness.

Many many moons ago (like quarter century+), Burger King had this thing where you could shake up fries in a baggie and make them cheesy. It was great because their fries are straight up bland ass so it was a perfect canvas.

Now it’s just bland ass again :(

The scent of my grandparents' house.

It had a very distinctive sweet aroma. I was never sure what is was, and I never asked. The scent followed them when they moved into a condo in a retirement facility. The last time I visited them in their condo was 2019, and they've both since passed away.

They gave me a book many years ago, the pages of which used to smell like their house. I know if I dig that book out of storage, it might still have a trace scent in it. But otherwise, it is now just a memory.

Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6 of Firefly.

I also miss Sobeys (Canadian grocery chain) Take n Bake pizza. They changed to a new recipe many years ago. I bought one of their new pizzas, it was very disappointing.

A certain stuffed animal I had when I was a kid. It got lost in one of the numerous moves in my life. It was worn and creased and it's eye were cracked but it was special.

McDonald's fruit & yogurt parfait. For $1. I loved those things. Yes, I can just get yogurt, granola, & fruit and make my own, but they're not the same. Haha.

Altoids Sours, specifically the mango ones. Those were my absolute jam. Probably for the best, in regards to the structural integrity of my hard palate.

My youth.

Prank phone calls. Its still possible with enough dedication and effort, but between smart call ID, the phone boxes disappearing and 99.99% of incoming calls being scams its just not worth the effort.

Time was if you knew a phone number and 30p in your pocket you could pop into a phone box and get an expensive laugh.

I also kinda miss how they smell. It was awful mix of piss, cigarettes and burnt plastic, but it was a pretty unique sensation.

Taco Bell and the Quesarito.

Fuuuck, why did they remove it? It was the whole reason to go to Taco Bell!

I miss del taco being in San Francisco

I've lost so much which would be considered deeply personal that none of it matters anymore, but you know what I don't miss? Fucking fast food. Sounds like a giant ad in here.

Being able to eat peanuts. Developed an allergy 4 years ago.

The park in Oregon where I used to walk every day and see the most amazing water birds.

Lettuce.

There was an helado shop very near where I live now, just a wonderland of flavors, nice lady with a hundred tubs of different interesting mostly fruit flavored ice creams. Not expensive. It's been gone for years and I still miss it.

Also there was this house I used to pass on my way home that had a crazy paint job, I think it had been orange and someone tried to cover that with green - the result was a house that looked like it was ripening and I just loved to see it. Eventually someone "fixed" it by making it gray, I miss it.

Along those lines, the Culver's turkey sourdough melt. (Not the BLT, not the patty melt.) It's been gone so long, I can't even find mention of it on the web, but it was my go-to when we'd stop for food after a weekly club activity, and I miss those times.

Here's a couple:

Reebok DMX shoes. Most comfortable shows I ever owned.

Interior decor of Taco Bell and other fast food places in the mid 90s. It looked like a fun place. Now it just reminds me of a POW camp on Guadalcanal.

Watching Star Trek with my grandma at five o'clock on our local TV station. I'd always say that one day I'd be on the Enterprise and she'd look up from her knitting and smile gently.

In-N-Out pink lemonade. They switched to fake sugar and it just isn't as refreshing as it used to be.

What I miss can never happen again. There was some mystery of the world lost with the internet. I miss opening a pack of magic cards and that was what you got, no hand picking the best build online. I miss hearing my friend say some bullshit in a game, and the only way to discover the truth was to try it. I am thankful for the speed of information nowadays and how much more accessible the world is. But sometimes I'd like to recapture that magic of the unknown, the closeness of having to converse with others to even guess at the depth of your hobby.

Dead people

Any time I have enjoyed a sandwich at Panera, they have changed it or cancelled it. There was a cheddar roast beef sandwich which hit just right back in the day. Then they had an Italian sandwich with pickled vegetables that also slapped. They discontinued both and I'm so bitter about it I still refuse to eat there

Bark candy in flavours other than chocolate and vanilla/white chocolate. Or mint chocolate. I swear I’ve had it in orange and raspberry and maybe others. Like the consistency of a chocolate bar but it’s not chocolate. No one else seems to remember this.

Pepsi Blue and Clear Pepsi, both were amazing sodas that came back for like a week; just long enough to taunt me.

The Cheesy Gordita Crunch used to be $0.89. Not 99, EIGHTY-NINE cents. Now it's like $3.79. Used to be my favorite thing on the menu, but there's no way I'm paying that much for it now. I tolerated $0.99, $1.09, even $1.19 but $1.29 is where I said "no". Haven't had one since.

Seafood Sub from Subway. It was my childhood. WhichWich comes close but it's not the same.

Wendy's ruined their bacon too. It's no longer the old applewood smoked bacon, now it's the same shit you'd get at Burger King. Cardboard.

There are some toys I had in childhood, neither any longer in my possession nor recoverable, the loss of which has left surprisingly deep mental scars.

Not comparable to a parent losing a child for obvious reasons, hence qualifying for this question, but probably about as close as you can get without it being that.

McChickens and McDoubles burgers both being on the dollar menu. It wasn’t that it was even good, but it was something my brother and I bonded over snacking on after midnight for years when we lived at home still.

I know both exist still, but it’s not the same. The value is just gone and so went our little cheap late-night snack ritual.

Sex. Minus the "deeply personal." Well, minus the "deeply." I always make it personal.

Freaking out my friends BBS modems by calling it and whistling into the phone.

Frosted vanilla creme pop tarts.

They were a staple in my house growing up so they were something of a comfort food. Always had a box on hand at all times, they were especially good toasted and covered in butter.

They were discontinued, then brought back for a year or so, then vanished again. I fear I shall never look upon one ever again.

Hudson's department stores. It was an upscale regional chain comparable to Macy's or Marshall Fields. The buildings themselves still mostly exist, but the remaining ones got converted into Macy's years ago.

Hardee's: The Big Roast Beef Sandwich. One of the few nice memories as a kid. None where I've lived for a long while. Finally went on a trip where there was a Hardee's and it's no longer there. The BBQ sauce made it amazing. Now it's just Carl's JR with a different name.

Taco John's: The Super Potato Ole... got it again on a trip years later, it's cheap crap now. Again none where I've been living.

I've looked on Google maps a few times at the house where I was most of my childhood and it's turned into a dump. Satellite view shows one area where it actually looks like trash has been piled up in one area and there are multiple broken down vehicles.

mh150 sunglasses from decathlon. Wayfarer shape but they fit my rather large head just fine and I liked the colours. They were cheap (£10) so it didn't matter so much if I lost or broke them. They were mirrored.

For about 6 years I relied on them and now I need to find a new brand or supplier.

Chicken Cacciatore from Maggianos. Perfectly marinated, fall off the bone half chicken. Discontinued probably 15 years ago and I still think about it.

I miss those yogurt covered Cheerios and the yogurt ball snacks from when I was a kid.

I think yoggos are the closest I've found that replace the yogurt ball snacks but man I miss those Cheerios.

I still pine for Fresh & Easy frozen Indian food. I have yet to find any restaurant that matches the Methi Malai Chicken and Chicken Makhani they used to sell. Wish I had saved the boxes to try to recreate the recipe

Trader Joe’s Belgian Chocolate Pudding. It made any other chocolate pudding taste like milk. Petit Pot comes close but it’s not in a tub and it’s not quite as rich. I used to eat it with fresh strawberries.

I miss when Burgerlords, Sage Bistro in Los Angeles were vegan.

I know it's still around, but the og pita pit. Back in highschool they were the spots to hang. Late night always had the weirder people working (as my friends and I were also weird), and it was great.

We'd go there, they'd be blasting whatever music they wanted (often hardcore punk or metal) and we'd all just chill with the employees. Sometimes get some free pitas, maybe go out back and smoke a joint. I'll miss that og falafel pita....

It felt like the oki-dog of the town I was in.

There was a local ice cream place that I would've loved to try out had it not closed back in 2011 or so.

yeah at one point it was the best you could get outside of popeyes

Living in an old, small house for the first 10 years of my life. When I was 10, my parents built a McMansion on a hill on the farm. Rubs be the wrong way every time someone complements it.

North East US. There used to be a fsst food chain called D'Angelos. Their #9 sub was Legendary. Everyone got it. Too bad, They're gone now.

Byron’s Drive In is gone