No Regrets
As a woman of a certain age, I often awaken in the wee hours of the morning for no apparent reason. When I do, I typically open my laptop, read some emails, cruise Facebook a bit and soon I’m ready to return to slumber. This morning I awoke to find a message from an old love. Although we parted ways years ago, he was thinking of me and wanted to tell me that for him, I was “the one that got away” and he regretted it terribly.
This is not the first time I’ve received a message like this from a man I was involved with. In fact, it’s happened several times now. So what about me makes it easy to walk away then, years later, regret that decision? Or am I just a bad burrito that keeps repeating on you?
We’ve all passed on something only to smack our foreheads later (I coulda had a V-8 style). The perfect skirt or shoes I saw in the store that were a little pricey or I didn’t think I actually needed were items of quality I really should have invested in. I have never been able to find anything like them since.
The evening in the restaurant when I got the cheaper bottle of wine instead of the one I knew I really wanted or I ordered the fresh berries for dessert instead of the tiramisu or chocolate lava cake to save on calories . . . . . . I thought about that wine and dessert for at least a week after.
As we reach the end of 2020, there have been many lessons, hard-learned. People can be selfish and awful and people can be heroic and wonderful. Solitude can really suck after awhile. Appreciate every bit of what and who you have. And, most of all, none of us know how long we have. In a New York minute, as they say, everything can change.
I think a great resolution for the New Year is: NO REGRETS. Drink the best bottle of wine you can. Eat the damn dessert. Buy the shoes. Take a chance and talk to the cute stranger you’ve had your eye on. Make the move. Write the book. And for God’s sake, if you love someone, tell them. Do it as soon as you figure it out. Or maybe, even better, don’t let the good ones slip through your fingers so easily in the first place. Don’t allow fear to stop you from finding, and keeping, that one that feels like home.
2021 . . . . . . . no regrets!
