The Age of Regret

Before I dive into this post I want to make one thing perfectly clear and that is the fact that I am a fairly contented person. Life is life. I get it. I understand the concept of making choices based on what you are capable of at the moment. Of course, regret is going to come into play as you gain more understanding and perspective. That’s just a natural part of life. But no one should beat themselves up too much with the sometimes heavy bat of regret. Sure, there are things that could have been done better but no one has a time machine DeLorean* so we just have to learn from it and keep moving on by doing better next time. I get it. I get all that. That being said, I must admit recently, I have started to let a couple of my biggest regrets occupy more space in my mind than I normally do. So much space they have moved south to my heart to inflict some wounds. It seems like I have entered the age of regret. In an effort to minimize them to more manageable sizes, I’m going to share them with you.

Continue reading

Other Things I Know

Monday is my grandma Tommie’s 101st birthday. Even though she has been gone for 59 years (long before there was a ck in the works) I still try to remember the day. Out of my four grandparents, her story always seemed the most tragic. Not that any of the others had it easy, mind you, they all experienced their fair share of life’s vicissitudes. But hers just always hit me a little harder. Last month, I shared what little I know about my paternal grandma. Now I’m going to share what I know about my maternal grandma.

Continue reading

Thanks for ruining that for me

The other day, the 1982 song ‘Jack and Diane’ came on the radio. The song is what could be referred to as an ‘80’s classic by John Mellancamp (since I actually lived through and remember the ‘80’s I still call him John Cougar Mellancamp). While the song has never been a favorite of mine, the catchy beat and longevity of it used to prompt me to sing along. More out of obligation than anything. If you grew up in the ‘80’s, there are certain anthem like songs that you are required to sing along to. Not that I paid much attention to what I was singing, it was just something I did. That is, until I read Mindy Kaling’s book “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)” (2012). Now, instead of singing along, I listen to it and climb up on some intellectual high ground and tsk-tsk my way through it.

Continue reading