<p>^Let’s just say it involved way too much Black Velvet, 1214mom. After that I plead the 5th. No pun intended. But it was neither good nor amusing. Even in retrospect.</p>
<p>I broke up with my first boyfriend for no particular reason. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t</p>
<p>I wish I had been a more serious student and not dropped out of college…though I really wasn’t ready and had no idea what I wanted to do , I will always regret that choice.
I think I would have been a good social worker</p>
<p>I regret losing touch with a good high school friend even though we went to the same large state U. We were in different colleges at the large U and only rarely passed each other on campus. I ran into her at general commencement where we talked and exchanged numbers with intent to see each other soon after as I was going on a post-graduation trip. She died the following week.</p>
<p>I would have pursued my dream job right out of college, instead of cancelling the interview because my fiance proposed. Always thought, what if…</p>
<p>When I engage in idle fantasy about this question, career choice always comes to mind. I think I would have been extremely well suited, physically, psychologically and in terms of many of my values and love of the sea to be a coast guard rescue diver. I think I also had the talent to make a serious go at pursuing a career in theatre. Of course, I could be accused of being a delusional poser in even making such statements about careers, which while so wildly divergent, require levels of skill, grit, and talent that so few possess and which are pursued successfully by such a tiny minority. But this is just idle fantasy, right? ;).</p>
<p>The reality, though, is that if I were offered the opportunity now to go back and redo things, I would decline. I am the product of each and every decision I have made and each and every life experience I have had. They are the building blocks and foundation of my life now and my life has evolved over time because of them, leading me to where I am now. It would be inconceivable for me to go back and change those decisions I made which built on themselves to lead me the marriage I have and the children I have raised. None of that would exist but for the decision I made to go to law school instead of pursuing those other careers. And that’s a trade off I would never make no matter how appealing the alternatives.</p>
<p>I recently had this very discussion with my 23 and 28 year old, the former pursuing the often frustrating life as a professional performer in theatre and the latter finishing law school and concluding that he does not want to practice law. Each of them has questioned whether they made the right decisions over their high school and college years taking them to where they are today. My advice to them has been never to second guess, to understand that who they are is the sum of all their experiences and past decisions and if they make their decisions for sound reasons at the time, with conviction, dedication and integrity to their core values, they will always have reason to feel good about themselves and to live their lives without regret.</p>
<p>I would have gotten my behind into the college admissions office to work as a student, because I have found - at age 50-ish that I love college counseling/admissions and I would have loved this as a profession earlier than NOW! However, it’s pretty fun now!</p>
<p>Some of us may have married the wrong person yet have the right children. </p>
<p>I wish I had gone to the private high school across the street from my grandparents’ house, instead of public high school. I would have incidently spent more time with my wonderful grandparents and the wonderful uncle that still lived with them. Never crossed my mind at thirteen that would be important. My parents let me choose my high school. The private one would have suited me better. That’s not the main thing, though. What I regret now is the family stories, experiences and accumulated knowlege I would have absorbed around that kitchen table across the street.</p>
<p>I always figure that I can’t regret even the obviously stupid things that I’ve done. Everything has led to me to the life I have, husband, children, job…so I don’t think about woulda, coulda, shoulda.</p>
<p>Except for the stock and options choices that I’ve messed up on. I could have made a lot more money if I knew what I was doing. And that wouldn’t have changed my life.</p>
<p>Yes, emeraldkity, your regret would have been life altering. My parents never ever considered that option for me and my sister (no money and not smart enough), but both my kids went to LS and I feel that experience will be with them forever.</p>
<p>"In 1987, on a Friday in October, the market went down 100 points. I was watching this from a closing in Chicago and, as we were talking, I said, “I wonder what the index futures are now?” I checked and saw that way, way out of the money futures were selling for next to nothing. I literally said out loud, “We should buy some of those.”</p>
<p>Market dropped 500+ points on Monday. The futures we didn’t buy became worth $60M."</p>
<p>I was working for the tech arm of the NYSE then, and one night during the crash we were in a local bar having dinner, waiting for the systems (patching them together with the equivalent of bailing wire and chewing gum). We were joined by a friend of a friend who worked for a broker on their AMEX desk, and he told us about a coworker, guy in his 50’s, who never risked his own money much, was very cautious…the guy bought a bunch of out of the money puts on the XMI index that Friday,like 18k worth, and by end of day Monday he was worth 9 million…and tuesday showed up to work.</p>
<p>If I know what I know now, I would have gotten into therapy at a young age to work out a bunch of issues in my life, among which might have been avoiding getting entangled in a very serious relationship when too young. I might have by doing that found myself earlier and not face finding myself later in life, pursuing what I thought it was, and then being forced by circumstances to drop that pursuit. I do have regrets…except for one, and that is I have my son, and that I could never, ever regret, for whatever reasons, we managed to turn out an incredible person. For better or worse, that takes away a lot of the pain and regret of not really finding myself until it was too late, as it turned out, and leaves it more as regrets rather then bitterness.</p>