Do-overs

A high school friend of mine, who moved to Hawaii at the end of last month (Can you say, "Mucho envious!"?), shared an article on Facebook last week titled, Those Top 37 Things You'll Regret When You're Old.  (Click on the title and it will redirect you to the article.)

The timing of the article is interesting, since I've been thinking about the concept of "do-overs" since a fellow Kentucky blogger, Kristen @ seeyouinaporridge, blogged about things she might do differently in her life (click here for blog post) a few weeks ago.

As far as regrets go, I try not to expend much energy thinking about them because, more often than not, the things we consider to be regrets are things that we cannot change.  Like Zac Brown sang... 

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"Save your strength for things that you can change, forgive the ones you can't.  You gotta let it go."

Here are some things that I'm not labeling as regrets, but if I were given the chance for a "do-over," I'd definitely do differently the second time around.

• I would've attended the Kentucky Derby when I was in my 20s, when I had a greater tolerance for crowds and craziness, and could endure the infield.  If I ever make it to the Derby, I want a real seat, and by real I mean a chair in the grandstands that is under cover and out of the elements.  I simply don't have the tolerance for the atmosphere of the infield anymore.
  
  
  
  

• In lieu of taking that crazy, impractical Russian language satellite course in high school and would've opted for practical Spanish instead.  But, hey, it's good to know that if I ever find myself in Moscow, that I can, with confidence, ask someone for the location of the subway!  (Understanding their response, well, that's a completely different story.)

Гдеметро ?

• I would've paid more attention to how my Granny B. made several of her "signature" dishes because she did not follow or leave a written recipe.  She passed nine years ago and there are still times in which I'd give anything to taste her mac 'n cheese one more time.
• My Grandpa B. and I didn't talk much because we had a difficult time finding common ground.  Being from different generations and having very strong and opposing views on the roles of women only complicated our relationship.  I do wish, however, that I would've asked him more about his involvement in WWII.  He fought in the European Theater under Patton in the final days of the Battle of the Bulge.  That's honestly all that I know and I'm ashamed that I didn't make it a point to learn more while he was alive.
• I would've abandoned the novel Cold Mountain within the first 50 pages instead of laboriously torturing myself for a month in order to finish it.  No one deserves to be subjected to that kind of torture!

How I felt reading Cold Mountain

• I would've seen Aviatar in the theater so I could've enjoyed all the colors of the movie on the BIG screen.

• I would have tried learning to ski or snowboard earlier in my life.  By the time I attempted to learn, I was already in my mid 30s and it was tough.  Who knows?  Had I started at a younger age, I could've been the female version of Danny Davis...

  

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• I wouldn't have wasted my time or my money seeing Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones or Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in the theater.  That's 4 hours and 21 minutes of my life that I can never get back!
  

• I grew up within 75 miles of some of the finest white water in West Virginia, but never rafted until I was in my mid 30s.  Knowing how much I enjoy being on the river and how happy rafting makes me, I wish I would have started a long time ago.
  

If given the chance to tweak or do-over some things from your past, would you? If so, what what are those things?  

Feel free to comment and thank you for stopping by!