Regret {prompted}

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We would sit for hours, she and I. Two bottomless coffee cups and battered journals. We would write and talk and drink and talk and write. Life took us in different directions and now she lives a million miles away. Well, 2,997 to be exact.
But still that connection exists and that desire to sit and share our thoughts nags at me.
I miss her.
This is our chance to go back to that coffee shop and those journals.
A random list from the depths of the internet.
A shared prompt. Once a week.

Join us if you’re so inclined. Leave a link in the comments. There is always room in the booth for more.
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Regret. It’s such a terrible word. Even the word itself.

Take sorrow for instance. Sorrow is open and mournful. It rolls out of your mouth like tears from your eyes. Not regret. No, regret is full of hard consonants and sharp corners. It is closed off and solid, setting up shop in your soul like a concrete block.

It will eat you up inside. Tearing and clawing at the back of your mind. I try to avoid it as much as possible. I have enough demons to battle as it is. But that’s not to say I don’t make mistakes. I have and am fairly certain that I will continue to make moderately and monumentally terrible decisions. It’s just who I am. But I don’t believe those lead to regret. Regret isn’t about mistakes you’ve made. Those are learning experiences for better or worse. Regret is for the things you didn’t do. Regret is the things that pride or fear or hesitation kept you from. Trying and failing is not something to regret. Failing to try is what causes regret. To quote the always brilliant and highly underrated film Empire Records

But on a more serious note. (And now that I’ve made at least one of you say “Damn the man, save the Empire” in your head)…

I’ve heard my mom say on several occasions, “You’ll never regret time spent, effort made, love given” and although it pains me to admit it, I have to agree with her.

Regret isn’t the action taken, it’s the inaction.

It’s the moments you can’t get back.

It’s the missed opportunities.

It’s the things you wish you’d done.

I regret not saying I love you one more time. I regret not sitting and listening to one more story. I regret not calling more often. Not being better about sending pictures of the kids.

Regret is letting moments pass without others knowing the love you have in your heart for them.

So here’s to living a life without regrets. Tell them you love them. Hug them, hold them tight. You won’t regret that the dishes sat there for another hour.

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See what Trisha had to write about ‘regret‘
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