Regrets, I've Had A Few...

. . . well, not really. But, I've always thought how different would my life be if I hadn't broke it off with my high school sweetheart because we left for separate universities. We kept in touch during that first year, but by sophomore year, no more.

Whether in life, love, career or just general - what is your biggest regret (if any)?

 

Wow, deep question. And have I made decisions that maybe I could have done differently. Yes, for sure. But do I regret any of them? I don't think so, because then I would not be where I am now, and I think I'm in a pretty great place.

Do I sometimes wonder if I should have not married my first husband, because we ended in divorce 25 years later? Maybe, but then I would not have the amazing children and grandchild that I have today. I would not have moved to Indiana and would not be with the amazing man I'm with now. Other decisions in the past I've made, again maybe could have been done differently, but again, I would not be here today.

So I guess maybe I have questioned past decisions, but I would not go back and change them!

 

When I was younger (24-25) I had an offer for a job in Seattle that I passed on for reasons passing understanding these days. I have thought about that often, how things might have turned out different if I had taken that job with that company.

 

See...now once you start tinkering with the timeline, zigging when you should have zagged, it changes everything. But, in the spirit of good fun in that it would not have altered the rest of my time on this planet:

a) instead of the Army, have often fantasized about what the USN or USAF would have been like...
b) retired from the Foreign Service vice going the private industry route.

I don't regret my decisions, but sometimes I ponder the grand What If.

 

When I was 27 I had a job offer out of the blue in the San Francisco Bay Area at a smallish tech company to be the second manager in a particular department. Instead I relocated to Los Angeles to follow my fiance. We did get married (and are still married with two kids). But we still think about that offer particularly since the manager who wanted to hire me retired as a multimillionare years ago. The name of that smallish tech company? Oracle.

 

Yep. The company that offered me the job in Seattle - which was actually in Bellevue, Washington - was Amazon. At the time they were nothing really, barely even selling books but they wanted to hire me to work in their marketing department doing statistical analysis work before it was really a thing. I swear to god, one of the reasons I didn't take the job was because I had no idea if something like that (or a company that sold books online) offered long term job security worth moving across the country for.

 

Trying Arbys..

 

I'm with dean, I'd not want to risk altering the cosmic/karmic flow. Now there is this one, my high school sweetheart, with whom I've run the what-if tape in my head a few times, but I want to keep the path I'm on, quite thankfully.

 

All of the ups and downs, all of the torturous bullshit, all of the emotional damage, it turned out to be okay.

But, I always wonder about if I had made the Air Force a career. Finished college courses (free), became an officer, I was too young to make those decisions. I was really too young at 17 to even be in the Air Force, because the decisions I made were immature and foolish. I did a lot of silly things that I'm embarrassed and ashamed of now. I could have been so much better.

I regret missing on the girls I knew in my twenties, because I always felt too poor to properly date them.

I regret that I didn't go to Government employment a lot sooner than I did.

 

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost--The Road Not Taken

 

Only one.......................

 

Amen! Celebrate the small wins. As the elder dealer told me as he walked me to the elevator, as i was too hammered to find it on my own, “enjoy your life.” [emoji120]

 

I really dont have any nagging regrets. Pretty muc live my life like i want to live it and understand there will be ups and downs.

Regrets will just drag on you like an anchor. no sense in having them.

 

this could be me except I was married 27 yrs before divorcing (I was too young to make the decision to get married and shouldn't have) ... but I love my children from that marriage and the grandchildren I have... and it all lead me to my dear husband now and Florida... and a relaxing wonderful life now..

 

Awritey...since you brought it up...this is something I have often wondered about, but never actually brought up in conversation. This was me in my younger days. Fo-real! Lemme tell ya a story...

When I first got out of the Army, living in not-so-beautiful downtown San Jose, cash flow was an issue. It was taking nearly every nickel I made to maintain rent & groceries. The Suzuki got totaled (though I lived to tell the tale), my Starsky & Hutch mobile died so I relied on either public transport (the bus) or shoe leather to get around. Which literally meant unless it was work or school related, it ain't happenin'. And as such, I realized that dating is just out of the question. Self confidence, self esteem, yeah they do matter. Granted, this was back in the day when $20 was enough for the weekend, but the point being, if you don't have that $20...

Then things changed. The diplomatic passport and an apartment in 1010 Wien, oh yeah...I'm doing some entertaining. Phenomenal boost in self esteem. Considerable uptick in the dating scene. But I always wondered if there were other guys out there who took an objective look at their situation and made the decision not to pursue, because you couldn't entertain in the style to which you would like to become accustomed. Muchas gracias there @Breeze147 .

 

The list is too long to mention. Would be interesting to see how my life would have turned out had I made different decisions.

After I graduated from the university I got an offer to work for Boeing. They sent me up to Seattle to check out the place. This was in the early 80's so Seattle was up and coming. I remember going to all the plants and visiting all the "new" neighborhoods where housing was cheap at the time. I remember you could buy a house for about $50k.

They didn't offer me a lot of money and I got a job offer in Honolulu so I declined their offer. Lucky though as the fed funding dried up and they had to lay off workers for a short while.


In the later 80's a headhunter contacted me about working in the bay area. Sent me up to San Jose/Sunnyvale and I visited about 7 different companies. I got offers from 3 of them, decent offers, would have been at least a 25% pay increase not including housing and cost of living stipends. I had my choice of offers. Unfortunately I was with a SO at the time and at first she was in agreement about moving but when I got the offers she got cold feet and said she wanted to stay in Honolulu and that we would probably break up if I decide to move up to the mainland. Stupid me decided to stay in Honolulu but 6 months later we broke up anyway.

I always wonder what would my life be if I did move up to the bay area. Probably making a lot more money but probably would have had a heart attack by now from all the stress at work.


Then you have the ex girlfriends and mistakes I/we made and what would have happened if we handled things better.


The list is endless but I've moved on. I'm retired and happily living in Honolulu, golfing 2x a week, having a condo unit that is completely paid off so no big bills.

 

I can only think of one regret... "Why didn't I start visiting Vegas sooner? I was old enough to visit Vegas well before my first trip in 2000 (I was around 44 yrs old at the time), so I missed out on those early days.

Although, I have a laundry list of "What If's?" LOL

 

I sometimes regret buying a single family home. I grew up in apartments so I know zilch about home maintenance and this house is 110 years old. Something always needs fixing. Now i have to replace a ceiling. I’m sure it will be worth it in the end but now that I’m older, damn. Just the idea of talking to contractors makes me want to take a nap.

 

I am grateful for each and every character and event in my life story.

Visiting Vegas has prepared me for Heaven.
And if I should end up somewhere else , well, I've flown Spirit numerous times so I'm prepared for that, too!

RICHARD

 

Mid 90's the office receptionist asked for a stock recommendation. Apple was in bankruptcy and in dire straights - I recommended buying Apple. One of many times I should have followed my advice.

Got married to a girl that I had just barely met and proposed shortly after our first date. Both of us were far too young for any of this. Celebrated our 40th 7 months ago. Sorrry - this example might not fit the thread.