If you could have done anything in your life, would you have done anything different?
 

What if you could have done anything in your life. Would you have done anthing different? A good career is playing a jazz piano in a small bar. Listen to Gene Harris and you will get a great understanding of what true talent exists. :coolsmiley:

I would have spent more time with the family. Chasing the career while chasing the bad guys cost me a marriage and time away from the kids I can never get back.

It's interesting that you mention playing jazz in a small bar. I was a trumpet player and an amateur artist, but as a young man I consciously chose to have a business career and raise a large family. I loved it. Playing trumpet in a small bar may sound romantic, but all the smoke and drinking makes it a less than healthy lifestyle. I love the Villages and I now do oil painting as well as landscape gardening. I love to listen to music too. I wouldn't do anything differently in my life. I have no regrets.

Where do you do your oil painting? We will be there from Jan - March and my husband is bringing his oil paint supplies with.

...the road not taken.

I would have married later than 21 and had a life of my own before marrying.

Just one?

Like the song says, "regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention".

That aaah moment. We can look back and with clarity recognize those choices made that shaped our lives. We clearly remember the admonitions of family friends, and experts. We also recognize that the best laid plans..............
What would I do differently? Not a darn thing. The mistakes, the regrets, the missed opportunities are natures way of reminding us that we are human, and besides for me it simply comes down to one question posed to my wife and kids
"Have I been a good man?" Their reply told me that all I did or did not do commanded their respect and appreciation validating my life and that to me is all that matters.

Excellent post! :BigApplause:

A very healthy way to look at life! :bigbow:

I believe that everything in my past, good times and struggles, brought me to this day and made me the person I am...far from perfect but happy. Wonderful family and great friends and living here in TV...I couldnt ask for more!

I so agree. I SO agree

Merry and blessed Christmas to you

I, too, would not have married so young (just turned 19). We had only met 3-1/2 months before. We've been married 45 years, but I wish I had "lived" a little longer.

Whereas I always wish I had met my wife earlier. Wasted years without her. :)

I would have searched out my biological parents way before I decided to do it. It turned out to a relatively easy search. I had a great life with adopted family, but my biological family would have been easier on my bio mother. My bio parents married 4 years after me so I have a bio sister and bio brother. I did meet my bio father, my bio mother suffered mentally due to her mother's unkindness. It's not all hugs and kisses meeting your bio family but it is worth it. So that's what I would have done differently, but do not for one moment regret I life I have had. I was lucky to have led a life of the highest level of comfort and material things......but there was always some little thing missing.

"Man proposes God disposes"--

Despite some bumps in the road, I totally agree.
We couldn't be who we are, if we hadn't been who we were. :rolleyes:
The golden years are a happy time of life.

I have pondered this question many times. Are there things I would have done differently with the perspective and wisdom of time? Certainly! Would I go back and change anything - no, because every time I think of something that I might cahnge, I realize that that change would have altered everything that has happened since. For example, I have lamented leaving a regional manager position I had, necessitating a move. I loved the job, loved where we lived and had great relationships, but some economic conditions that affected the potential of my success there were negative and not getting better. I made a quick decision, and took another opportunity with the same company in a city 250 miles away. The first month in our new home our youngest son met a girl, who six years later became his wife and has given us beautiful twin grandsons that turn four in January. Had we not moved that love affair would never have happened and our son and our entire family would be poorer for it. Every decision, every move, every action affects everything down the road so, being happy where I and my family are today, I would change nothing. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a great new year to you all.

Congrats to you !!!!!!! :BigApplause::BigApplause::BigApplause:

I have a small studio on my lanai. The lanai is glassed in and under climate control. You can paint outside all winter. There are beautiful scenes to paint all over The Villages. A French easel would be the thing to bring so he can paint outside. Enjoy your visit!

I am taking OP's question from purely a fun standpoint--what would you be if you could have been anything you wanted? I always wanted to be a violinist, but my parents wouldn't buy me a violin because they already had a piano. I think also they didn't want to put up with hearing the screeches.

So if I could be anything I wanted to be, it would be a concert violinist. Other than that, I am quite happy with my life!

I would have been a little less serious and duty-bound, and learned much earlier how to enjoy each moment.

I wish I would have figured out before the re-invention of myself at age 60 that selling real estate is my passion. I also would have studied landscape architecture instead of music. BUT I have had a wonderful life, husband, family and am thoroughly enjoying my senior years. Maybe next time around...

"It's a Wonderful Life"
 

Isn't it great that almost if not all loved their life and would only have done something a little different to enjoy it more. It's true. The Villages are the best and it enjoys having the best people. It's a great life.:wave:

Short answer - not having diabetes. Too many of my life's decisions have been based on this disease. I am blessed with the strength to endure the constant reminder but I often wonder how my life would have. Forty years without complications...

No regrets. Went through many rough times in life as a lot of us did. With each hardship lessons were learned and new goals to achieve. It seems I've done everything right to end up in the bubble at a young age. The best is yet to come in TV and they will be the happiest years of my life.

Not sold my shares of Apple at $100 on the other hand bought them at $15 also they split 4 times

Would not have talked myself out of buying Microsoft and Apple at their ipo's. Also talked myself out of buying Google.

Life is a special journey you can't plan in details. Thinking about my life I can't say I could not change it because it was ruled from other forces, people, circumstances. Born in Germany during WW2 I remember running away from bombing, seeking shelter(s), later running away from Russians, but at the new place we were not welcomed either. Where to go, what to do?
Finally I found what I was seeking for, my deepest wish came true, found the place I could call "home" - USA. No piano playing in a small bar - just to live your life.

As a child and teenager I would help my mother a whole lot more than I did. She was a young widow with four kids.

My husband just got a Dexcom after being a brittle diabetic for 34 years. It has changed his life. Check into it if you haven't seen them! It monitors his blood 24/7 and beeps if he drops or goes to high. It's been amazing!!

There are a few things I would do differently but nothing to really change my life. My life has had some hard times but they've helped make me strong enough to get through the rough patches.

I have no regrets about anything, but if I could have something to do over I'd run more. I didn't know how much I'd miss it once my joints got cranky. I wish I didn't take it for granted so much. A small thing in a pretty great life overall.