A friend asked if I had any regrets.  This was my response. 

Everyone makes mistakes, so I don't really say I have regrets.  I have a better idea of what I would do now, given the opportunity to change the past.  But I often say, "If I had to make the same decision that I made at that time, knowing only what I knew at that time, I would still make the same bad decisions because I didn't know any better."  That is, I made the best decision I could at that time, knowing only what I knew at that time.  I know better now, but that's ok.  If I had done something different, I would not have the life I have today.  Here's a few things I might have changed.

- Not marrying my wife, my second wife, Sheila, when I was 11 years old and she was 8.  We would loose track of each other and marry other people.  I didn't see her for 17 years.

- Not studying outside of class for my first three semesters in college.  That almost created a disaster.

- Not sleeping in my girlfriends bed when she invited me.  Big mistake.  I was too conservative.  I loved her.  I was trying to be patient and wait for marriage.  I should have married her.  As things turned out, she went crazy from a brain tumor and died of cancer ten years later.  I wish I had been there for her.

- Marrying my first wife.  I would have dated her longer than six weeks before marriage.  Had we waited a year, we would have never gotten married.  We were not compatible in the long term and it ended in divorce.

- Not getting a minor degree.  I spent too much time on one subject (biology) and should have diversified my background.  At the time, it would have been a minor in computer science.  Ten years later, the minor would have been in business.  Today, I would have minored in Chinese history (with my major in zoology)

- Dropping out of graduate school.  My professor took a two year leave of absence, starting the year before I graduated.  I should have staying in place and waited for his return.

- Dropping out of graduate school and resigning my research assistantship.  I should have been more patient.  I quit an excellent opportunity for no good reason.

- Selecting a second graduate school without much research.  I never should have taken a teaching assistantship under a new professor at a new school I attended.  One of his colleagues would tell me, 25 years later, "None of his students ever graduated" because he was a lousy professor.

- Dropping out of graduate school a second time.  Dumb move.

- Not returning to graduate school even sooner than I did the third time.  I wasted many years.

- Working in sales for 18 months.  I was making less than minimum wage working on commission.  I was wasting my time.

- Moving to Kentucky as a salesman.  Major mistake!  I should have never moved there.  I should have found a real job.

-Buying land in Kentucky, without running water and 14 miles from town.  A major disaster for my marriage, my family, and myself.

I've made some good decisions in my life.  Those were not the best of them.  Would I do them again?  Sure, if I knew only what I knew at that time!  We can't regret what we did.  But we can plan for a better future.