entering in text data and losing the \n

I have a form with a text area. When the user submits the data it is saved to a mysql database in a field of type text. When I extract the data from the database and display it in php it loses the line return and the data is all crammed together. Here is an example This is line 1 This is line 2 This is line 3 Here is what it would be after I extracted it and displayed it to the screen This is line 1 This is line 2 This is line 3 What do I need to do to get it to retain the line feeds? Thanks Randy