To do things again differently

[Sabeine]

So here is an interesting question:

If you could go back to your teens what would have done differently? The same?

I had this question posed to me recently and I have to say that I was too tame as a teen. Yeah I know it's hard to believe. ;D I really was though...
My senior year of high school I had a curfew of 10:30 on the weekends. On weeknights we were not allowed to go out. I always obeyed my curfew and so did my sister. I had a boyfriend (whom I am still friends with) and it was always a mad dash home in his car to make my curfew. My Dad would always be waiting at the front door and if we were late then we were grounded the next weekend. This meant no going out, no phone calls, no tv, no radio and ALL meals were to be eaten in our rooms. My parents aren't religious either so they couldn't blame that, ha ha. They're from Sweden in fact though my sister and I were born and raised in the States.

If I could go back I would have disobeyed my curfew, if for no other reason than to see my Dad's face.

So what would you have done differently?

[Carolyn]

Probably learned more about birth control, not that I regret having my son, since he is my only issue, but the subsequent relationship with his father and then with my next lover, who I married, left me feeling bitter and untrusting of ALL men for about 30 years after that.

My one real regret was I had tried out for a road company of "Hair", which was THE musical back then, and I got the part, but then chickened out because I was too insecure and afraid of the unknown. Yeah, hard to believe I know.

[JerseyGirl]

I would throw the idea out of my head that all boys would run screaming from me, and maybe I would have had a boyfriend or two. I also wouldn't have let my "best friend" control me as much as she did.

Er, yeah my teenage years were absolutely not my happiest.

But on the other hand, I believe everything that I did then has had a great effect on where I am now. So I guess I wouldn't want to change a thing. I just wouldn't want to relive it either. LOL

[Pam]

I agree with JerseyGirl....all that came before made me who I am. Some of it wasn't pleasant, it just was.

[Suzanne]

I was the kid in high school who always went to church on Sunday, never drank (until I turned 21), never did drugs, was top in my graduating class, editor of the school paper and captain of both the boys' tennis team and girls' track team. I hear you sighing "I hated that kid in my class!" I intimidated the boys and the girls didn't like me because all the boys were friends because of my vast sports knowledge.

I didn't have the ideal teenage years and you could say I ended up a very late bloomer. Although I didn't go to prom and didn't have any serious boyfriends, I wouldn't change a thing! I think the way I started out as an adult is the very thing that made me the screwball I am today.

At my 20-year reunion last week, people were aghast that I was not only moving away from the school ( I have lived "closest to the school" since 1989) but that I'm leaving the country. Me, the kid who never went against the establishment.

I don't think it was so bad being "Goody Two Shoes" in school. It might have been a little dull, but it made me enjoy adult things more as an adult In the words of Frank Sinatra, "I did it myyyyyyyy way." ;D

[Carolyn]

Yes, I go with the general consensus, that stuff happened, but I wouldn't change who I am today.

Sometimes I look back just 10 years. My parents had died and I had not a phenomenal inheritance, but a nice little nest egg. Now I look and think, wow, what I wouldn't give to have that money again, but then I consider this.

With close to $100,000, I moved back to New Mexico and bought my first computer and started doing the work I do today, court transcription. I tried to set up a business that I ended up selling piecemeal, I made some extremely bad choices, got involved in an expensive personal relationship and by the time that was over, so was the money. And I was emotionally drained.

HOWEVER, when that relationship broke up and I was broke, I moved, got on line out of curiosity in December of 1998 and in February of 1999, I met my Anders. Now I'm married to the best of men, wonderful step-kids, great dog, living in a country I like very much, a town I like very much and yes, we're pretty poor, but we have enough. So keep the $100,000, since its disappearance led me to where I am now. Worth every single penny and double that.