Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics General Stuff ...to do over again

Nice try, slipped! (Although John was the person who got me "hooked up" to the intertubes years later - such as they were - with a vt100, a modem, and elm. Lightyears...)

Amazingly....
I wouldn't change anything.
Much like 2wins...it took that to get me here.
The first part wasn't fun and much of it was painful.... but I love where I am now. Thank you, god/who/whatever.

I do wish I had mentally recorded more though.
Ethiopia especially.

Since I opened the question, I've been thinking about my own answer.

For many years, my favorite poem has been by John Milton... "On his Blindness". I guess it sums up my thoughts.

I too would not change a moment. I didn't like a lot of them, but so what?

Shallow, I know, but I often think I should have slept around before I got married. But then I likely would have missed out on some wonderful relationships. It's too hard to know how things would have worked out have I acted differently.

I would not have skipped taking the Foreign Service exam under pressure from family following the Iranian hostage event. My PoliSci degree focused on International Relations with minors in Public Administration, Economics and Business was tailored to it. I gave it up for the stupidity of the time even though "I" was perfectly comfortable going there after 4 years wandering the globe in the Navy. I regretted the decision many times...and still do.

I sometimes regret not having bought Highgate Manor n 1990...for $80,000. Cheap, even in those days. I put a deposit on it, but backed out a few months later. Now it's probably worth well over a million.

But there's something about it...a 'feel' to it. Not necessarily a good one. Purported to be haunted...which I don't doubt. Somewhere in storage I have a photo from my first visit there. It's of part of the second story, taken from outside...and I've always been convinced there are shadowy figures in the window. Also, past owners hadn't had the best of luck. (I'll have to do some research...but I know the place doesn't have a 'happy family' history.)

On the afternoon of that initial visit, I was driving up to Highgate and the sky quickly darkened. By the time I got to the property, an all-out storm was raging. (I later learned there had been a tornado warning out for that part of the state...a rare occurrence in Vermont.)

I had a strange response to my first view of the building. I began physically shaking. I told myself it was a reaction to the sudden and unusual change in weather. But who knows?

I often wonder what my life would have been like had I gone through with that transaction. The only thing I know for sure is it would have changed all subsequent events...as all major decisions do...and my life would be completely different from what it is today.

And today is pretty good!

It is my sincere belief that we are where we are supposed to be. Beyond that - and this may be a bit "woo woo" for most here - I believe in between our most recent life and this one we chose to be here. It is and will soon be a most interesting and difficult time. We came here for a reason. Few of us alive today are weak or timid spirits.

I doubt that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, but I suspect that, in the midst of the shifting phantasmagoria we call time, we are getting closer.

.

Perhaps, depends on your perspective. "Time was invented by humans to keep everything from happening at once."