spaces vanish when I unplug monitors

I’m new to using spaces, but it seemed like a perfect solution for me. I spent time figuring it out and setting up 4 spaces on my 1 laptop screen, plus 2 additional monitors I use when I’m at the office. Then I went home — and when I opened my laptop, I only had 2 spaces — !! The others have disappeared into oblivion. That’s crazy, after all the time I spent setting it up. And incredibly disappointing, after tasting the tantalizing hope that I had finally solved all my organizationally-challenged problems!

QUESTIONS:

1. Is there any way I can get my two missing spaces back?
2. Is there any way to make this not happen ever again???

I am clinging to the hope that someone will have an answer that solves this problem….

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p.s. Hey, Apple! *If* this is an a known, ongoing, unaddressed problem, then I can’t even begin to imagine why the feature was released — and then allowed to continue existing in its *soul-crushing*, broken state.

Because *if* this is true, then it completely breaks the basic human expectation of object permanence!

But — I will withhold judgment until I get a definitive answer on this topic, lol….