This is a bit different. I'm glad for some of the things I did do. I learned to drive when I was 20. I became a nurse and loved it for over 40 years. I got married to someone I loved, ( he didn't feel the same unfortunately). I had my 2 great talented and loving daughters, who have given me the joy of 4 grandchildren. I refuse to spend time regretting what I didn't do.
I wish that when I was given the choice of two grammar schools, I had rejected going to the convent to be taught by Catholic nuns. Bad choice! Bad memories!
Wish I had ignored my OH and accepted the offer of being an extra in a film to get an equity card and then get a job in costume dept. But OH said no way unless you are going to get my dinner on the table at 6. I left him a year later and went to university to study costume design. Then my next mistake was to get back with him 3 years later. He said you can give up this nonsense and get a proper job.
Many other regrets about not asking parents and grandparents more about their lives. A family tree can only tell you basic facts.
Made more effort at school, and tried for a career rather than a job. But that said times were different then. Also wish I’d been a better mother when the children were young. I always seemed to be stressed, and coped being short tempered. Hindsight is a wonderful thing ?
I would have begged my parents to stop our teachers from caning us. This happened over a period of three years and I put up with it. I wish I'd given the authorities a fright by running away. It's only as I've grown up that I've found out that caning was not the norm in most schools. I went to school in Northern Ireland. The head master was a retired army Captain and his ideas for discipline were so wrong.
I wish that I had managed to persuade my dad to either write down or record his memories of when he was growing up. He'd lived in this village all of his life - something rare these days- and now his generation has just about gone, there is no record of what it was like during the war or when the main industry was leather, before it all got moved to India. There were also several farms that have either been conglomerated or the land built on. Even the new village sign shows no history connected to the industry - obviously too dirty for the incomers!
I would have liked to be more sensible with my relationships. Not too eager to please - say no more - and not wasted so much time trying to find Mr. Right. I would have kept asking my Mum more about her post par-tum depression and having to put my brother into care (she wouldn't discuss it). It was not nice reading her medical reports once she had passed away. And even at my age now I'm still hot headed at times.
I wish I had asked my father more questions about his time as a soldier during the war. I wish I had tried harder at school and had more confidence. I wish I hadn't got married at 16 (it ended badly.) I wish I had made more of myself and had a career. I wish . . . I wish . . .
I believe we follow the path we are supposed to but back in 1975 I had met my future husband (now my ex) and was also offered the chance to move from London to the south coast with the company I worked for. I was not engaged at that point. I often wonder how my life would have turned out.
GagaJo Me too. I wouldn’t have left ex in family house when we split up either. Would have chosen different career from teaching. Wouldn’t have married an abuser. Hindsight is a great thing. Would like another go at life but it’s too late now. Ah well ....
Marydoll, I don't know where you live , but you could be talking about my convent school. I did lots of the naughty things you mentioned, but they were nothing compared to the pranks my younger sister and her gang got up to. I hated the school and wished I'd been able to go to my first choice of grammar. I also wish I'd learned to ride a horse.