Things you never did

[Dioltach]

A few years ago I was in Australia with my wife. We spent a lot of time looking for a nice piece of jewelry for my sister, who has lived in Australia for over 20 years and had missed out on loads of birthday and Christmas presents.

I'd finally narrowed it down to two pendants from a shop in Cairns: a choice between a pendant with a gold nugget and a lovely saphire and one with a gold nugget and a champagne diamond. To help me decide, my wife tried them both on, and we were blown away by the fact that the saphire pendant looked amazing on her.

In the end, I went with the diamond, but I've always regretted not having bought the other pendant for my wife.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

A couple "unfinished" things (like learn a musical instrument) and a past relationship that can't be redone. But overall, I'm not particularly lacking in experiences, only direction.

I suppose the closest thing to "regret" in life so far is that I've already done everything on my "stuff I have to do before I die" list.

And I'm only halfway dead!

 

[Fast Learner]

A lot has been said about Regret. There are some many things to do in this world, that a man can't live it regretting all the stuff he didn't do. If you make time for Regret, you ain't got time to be doing.

Agreed, regret is for suckers.

Mind you, by that I mean that if you realize that you wish you'd done something differently, all of these can be appropriate: apology, recompense, feelings of guilt (though not forever), and/or some amount of mourning. More than anything, though, it's about learning from your experience and changing your future behavior.

Regret is about living in the past, but the past is, and always will be, dead and unchangeable. The only thing that's alive and full of possibility is today, this hour, this minute, this moment.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Not going to college. I joined the Air Force straight out of high school and got married and started having kids while I was still in the service.

I still plan to get a degree someday, but the actual college "experience" is one I'll never have.

 

[Felon]

My regrets stem less from missed opportunities than from how I've mistreated other people. Things I have done, rather than things I haven't.

What's the deal with the space shuttle? We're not doing space anymore?

 

[Herschel]

We're shooting for Mars next. Space station stuff will be contracted through private businesses and the moon is for suckers. We used to think it was made of cheese, but got there and found out it was just rock and haven't felt the need to go back since.

 

[RangerWickett]

Man, if the moon really had been made of cheese -- all sorts of cheeses, as many types of cheeses as there are types of rocks on earth -- we'd have regular expeditions setting out all the time.

 

[weem]

I wanted to meet Gary Gygax in person, but never got to.

Bullgrit

This is the big one I thought of too.

Yea.

Did an interview with him (we were going back and forth via email) a long time ago during which time he invited me to come to a con he was going to be at (don't recall which one - this was in 2000-2001 or so) - he said there was "a chair at his table" for me if I could make it there.

Anyway, I was a workaholic and let work trump what would have been a great time I'm sure, and a chance to meet him.

I don't really let regrets weigh on me, but that would have been cool