This Edith Piaf song wafts through the movie Inception, a heartbreaker about losing someone you love. (And in the words of the old Shake n' Bake commercial, 'you hailped.')
It's nearly impossible to say, "No, I regret nothing" in life. In fact, Piaf goes on to say that bad or good, the events in her life don't affect her at all. Well, she may feel nothing (that's called shock, folks), but it sure doesn't mean her life remained static.
How do you feel about your life in the past year? Are there regrets on things you said, did (or didn't), money you spent, places you went (or didn't)?
I would give a lot to never have watered the garden last Memorial Day (or at least to have gone downstairs into the basement sometime that weekend, rather than give myself a 'break' from work). So far, that decision has cost us many hours of lost time, plus thousands and thousands of dollars. We've lost things that cannot be replaced.
Soon enough, though, I realized many of those 'irreplaceable' things were...well, not as critical as I'd thought.
I got very used to the idea of total strangers traipsing through our personal and work areas.
And when that dumpster of wet, spoiled smelly possessions got hauled away, there was a strange and wonderful sense of relief.
I would rather not have said some things that were truthful -- but saying them changed nothing. (In fact, it made the situation even more tenuous.)
I would have liked to have finished a ton of writing assignments I'd planned. (They're still on the docket.)
On the plus side, though, I spent extra time with family and good friends...even when I didn't have it to spend.
The Brick stayed reasonably healthy. Other than flu and getting old, so did I.
We donated money and time we thought we didn't have. (But we did.)
And even after thirty years, I still would rather spend time, good or bad, with the Brick.I love him.
It was a strange year, but God didn't give up on us. And we didn't give up on ourselves. Perhaps Edith is right, after all -- I didn't enjoy the bad stuff, but I don't regret it, either.
It's nearly impossible to say, "No, I regret nothing" in life. In fact, Piaf goes on to say that bad or good, the events in her life don't affect her at all. Well, she may feel nothing (that's called shock, folks), but it sure doesn't mean her life remained static.
How do you feel about your life in the past year? Are there regrets on things you said, did (or didn't), money you spent, places you went (or didn't)?
I would give a lot to never have watered the garden last Memorial Day (or at least to have gone downstairs into the basement sometime that weekend, rather than give myself a 'break' from work). So far, that decision has cost us many hours of lost time, plus thousands and thousands of dollars. We've lost things that cannot be replaced.
Soon enough, though, I realized many of those 'irreplaceable' things were...well, not as critical as I'd thought.
I got very used to the idea of total strangers traipsing through our personal and work areas.
And when that dumpster of wet, spoiled smelly possessions got hauled away, there was a strange and wonderful sense of relief.
I would rather not have said some things that were truthful -- but saying them changed nothing. (In fact, it made the situation even more tenuous.)
I would have liked to have finished a ton of writing assignments I'd planned. (They're still on the docket.)
On the plus side, though, I spent extra time with family and good friends...even when I didn't have it to spend.
The Brick stayed reasonably healthy. Other than flu and getting old, so did I.
We donated money and time we thought we didn't have. (But we did.)
And even after thirty years, I still would rather spend time, good or bad, with the Brick.I love him.
It was a strange year, but God didn't give up on us. And we didn't give up on ourselves. Perhaps Edith is right, after all -- I didn't enjoy the bad stuff, but I don't regret it, either.
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