« Regrets . . . | Main | It's Fall and TV is in the Air »
September 20, 2006
I didn’t…but I totally should’ve
Stupid, stupid, stupid
It’s been said--mostly in greeting cards and high school yearbooks--that we do not regret the things we do, but the things we do NOT do. While I must respectfully disagree with the first part of this statement (see: every other blog entry this week), I’ve found the second part is starting to ring true as I get older.
If I were granted a cosmic do-over in life, I’d definitely:
Go to the Chianti winery
This is my top woulda, shoulda, coulda regret, because it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I blew it. I spent my senior year of college studying art history in Florence, Italy, and every morning I attended Italian language and culture lessons at an “immersion school.” So this school organized a road trip to the Chianti vineyards. All I had to do was pony up a few euros and hop on the bus with my fellow American students. I realize that there are no guarantees in life, but this trip was probably the closest thing to 100% guaranteed fun that will ever come my way. With a built-in designated driver, even! But I didn’t go. And you want to know why I didn’t go? Because—I still wince just typing it—I had to work on my grad school applications. Seriously. I know. Talk about screwed-up priorities. And then, later in the semester, I blew off a day trip to Cinque Terre because “I have to revise my application essay.”
What a dumbass.
Go to Alaska
Once again, my misguided work ethic got in the way of living my life. The summer after I graduated college, my parents and brother decided to take a family trip to Alaska and invited me along. Now, as you probably already know if you’re a regular LC reader, I am kind of obsessed with Alaska. The fascination began with watching Northern Exposure and just snowballed from there. (Ha! Get it? ‘Cause it’s, like, cold in Alaska? Oh, the wit!) This was a golden opportunity to go, with all expenses paid and family bonding thrown in. And, in a moment of absolute idiocy that proved I had learned nothing from the Chianti winery debacle, I passed. Because I was doing a summer research program at the university and I thought my work was just soooo important. Turns out, it wasn’t. Now I am reduced to emailing Lani, begging for tales of life on the last frontier and she has to take precious time out of her day to explain, once again, the difference between TV shows and reality. Then we talk about how both Fish and I have webbed toes. (Must be an LC thing.)
Buy only one wedding gown
I am not going to dredge up the all the gory details here, because my friends and family just stopped teasing me about this (right around my third anniversary), but let us just say that I have known to be both indecisive and impulsive about fashion. And that these traits, when mixed with the enormous expense of designer wedding wear and the pressure every bride feels to look “perfect” on her big day, are a very, very bad combination. Very. Bad. All I can say is, thank God for eBay.
Oh, and also, I would’ve been a rock star.
What’s your “I didn’t (but I would now)”?
Posted by Beth at 11:34 PM | Comments (7)
Comments
I would have gone to Oxford for the summer program I was accepted into, but decided I couldn't afford, in college. I would have skipped law school and started writing books way WAY earlier. I would have jumped out of a plane (with a parachute) because now that I have kids, I know I never will.
Posted by: Alesia Holliday ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.literarychicks.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 21, 2006 8:20 AM
Every once in a while I regret that George and I eloped, especially after I watch a sappy wedding movie, like FATHER OF THE BRIDE.
But then I remember how insane our families were acting at the time, and I quickly snap out of it.
Posted by: Whitney at September 21, 2006 8:51 AM
Beth--Florence, Italy, art history?!! OMG--I was going to do a semester in Provence (?sp) and work on sculpture. Except my grant didn't come through that year. (I would have majored in art history except my college didn't offer it.) I regret not getting to go, and I regret not finishing my college education. Because once you walk away from it, you can almost never go back...
Ceeramics was my passion, and photography, but sculpture looked like fun, also. (sigh) I will never know...
Posted by: Sheri at September 21, 2006 5:26 PM
I would've said yes that the extremely cute firefighter who asked me out. My route home from my office in Chicago took me past a station house. He had apparently been watching me for weeks and finally got up the nerve to ask me out . . . two weeks before my wedding.
It's not that I wish I hadn't gotten married (that time), it's just that I'm still kinda curious fifteen years later . . .
The LC Eileen
Posted by: Eileen at September 21, 2006 5:48 PM
I would have gone to university right out of high school. I should have. But NOOOO... I had delusions of God-knows-what and went off and trained as a flight attendant (see my comments in the jobs I would never take again bit below and you'll see how well that went.)
I did eventually get my degree. Took me 8 years instead of 3 because I went part time. And of course, it cost WAAY more because tuitions had doubled by the time I got there. Dumbass, indeed.
But. That being said... If I HAD gone to university at age 18, then I would never have followed the path that led me to my husband. And that WOULD be regretful.
Posted by: Cynthia at September 21, 2006 9:21 PM
Hmmm...I've always been one for jumping on opportunities when they come my way (I mean who, in their right mind, would choose a microwave over a trip to Vegas as a graduation present? Certainly not me. I loved that trip to Vegas with my parents, even though it was some years later before I got a microwave.)
What I do wish is that I'd gotten over my shyness earlier. Had the self-confidence that I have now in high school. Realized that the world doesn't revolve around the way you look EVEN IN HIGH SCHOOL.
Posted by: Dia at September 22, 2006 12:17 PM
Many years ago I went to Paris with 2 unadventurous schoolfriends and didn't get to go up the Eiffel Tower. I mean, it's just one of those things you have to do in Paris.
But I did finally get the chance last month when Oh Patient One and I went to Paris for our anniversary. (It was scary, because for the final part of the ascent/descent the elevator is made of glass, but I'm glad I did it.)
Posted by: Michelle C at September 24, 2006 7:06 AM
