- Thread starter Greg1959
- Start date
retired farmer
Well-known Member
Found a different wife.
I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, but I get over them.
The things I truly regret are the ones I DIDN'T do.
Like not getting a college education while I was in the service
and they would have paid for it instead of me footing the bill.
Or not going to a relative's 70th birthday party.
Never once thinking there wouldn't be a 71st.
The things I truly regret are the ones I DIDN'T do.
Like not getting a college education while I was in the service
and they would have paid for it instead of me footing the bill.
Or not going to a relative's 70th birthday party.
Never once thinking there wouldn't be a 71st.
Interesting question. How far back can we go? Before my birth? Do I get to retain knowledge of the future so I have some idea as to what to do different? To have the biggest impact on me would be to go far enough back to impact my parents for an improved financial situation in my youth. I guess I would want to go back to 1920 to gamble on the horses that I knew the results of the races then invest in the stock market. After a year or two of that I would jump ahead to September 1929 and pull everything out then reinvest about 1933 or 1934 when everything hit bottom. Then I would jump ahead to the 1950's and bet more horse races, baseball and football games I knew the results of. I would have a small fortune ready to go for the 1960's which is the decade I was born in. Dump some money off there for the family then keep working the market for the oil crisis and grain booms of the 1970's then jump to 1986 for the Micorsoft IPO. I was actually privy to the IPO but being a college student I had zero money available for it.
If I could only go back and give my young self a tip I would say do something other than the ag degree despite the advice of the Farm Credit officer. Farm but have a good job to feed the farm instead of duking it out with others for fewer ag jobs during the consolidation of the 1980's.
The trouble with either scenario is I would have to have lived the "crappy life" to get to the point to go back and know what to do to make changes. It is probably a good thing humans do not have the ability to move through time.
If I could only go back and give my young self a tip I would say do something other than the ag degree despite the advice of the Farm Credit officer. Farm but have a good job to feed the farm instead of duking it out with others for fewer ag jobs during the consolidation of the 1980's.
The trouble with either scenario is I would have to have lived the "crappy life" to get to the point to go back and know what to do to make changes. It is probably a good thing humans do not have the ability to move through time.
crooked rows
Member
Bought a couple of farms that I thought were too much money at the time.....
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Too many things to list! Don't want to get us poofed!
I guess the one that stands out, when my ex'es aunt called me aside... "You don't want to marry her, she's lazy!"
I should have listened, she was right. One more lesson learned the hard way!
I guess the one that stands out, when my ex'es aunt called me aside... "You don't want to marry her, she's lazy!"
I should have listened, she was right. One more lesson learned the hard way!
mattwillson
Member
I could write a rather large novel about what I'd do different, I'd probably still want to change it all again later except....i should've got rid of my first long term girlfriend earlier and not met my ex wife..i should've kept all the old cars trucks and tractors etc that I've had, although that would be impossible. Other than that, I like things the way they are except new vehicles aren't even close to as rugged as stuff from 20 years ago. Of course, i'm not either.
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
Spend a lot less time working the 2nd time around and become a professional Beach Bum.
Bruce from Can.
Well-known Member
- Location
- Woodville, Ontario, Canada
No thanks, I am very happy with things just as they are. Bruce
ShadetreeRet
Well-known Member
One of the few things that I would do is build a a decent shop. In the late seventies, we bought this place and I had funding available, but held off because we thought we would do some remodeling to the old house. Of course, everyone knows how money has a way of disappearing. I could have made enough doing repair work on the side to paid for it.
Paul from MI
Well-known Member
Not much--been really good so far! Don't know about the next 70 years, the direction of our country scares the cr@p out of me.
jwal10
Member
- Location
- Western Oregon
March 1st 1976, I would have stayed home. I called in sick but the boss said he needed me. I went in to help get a couple of measurements so he could pick up a couple 6" steel pipe posts. I slid on a frosty roof and cut the tendons in my left hand. Later because the reattachment surgeries didn't work and other injuries because of it, I have very little use of the whole shoulder and arm. I was 20 at the time. I was able to farm for 20 years and enjoyed it but my health deteriorated and I was unable to continue. I did get a great job 2 years later and was able to fully retire at 55 so I have had a great life. I am not disabled, I was/am challenged....James
Goose
Well-known Member
The one regret I have is I never learned to fly. In the early 1960's, when I was in North Carolina, a flight instructor at the New Bern airport would guarantee your solo license for $75.
Several of my buddies took him up on it, but it seemed when I had the money ($75 was a fair sum in 1960) I was off on a tangent somewhere, and when I had the time, I didn't have the money.
It still isn't too late, but I'd have to convince my wife and that might take some doing.
Several of my buddies took him up on it, but it seemed when I had the money ($75 was a fair sum in 1960) I was off on a tangent somewhere, and when I had the time, I didn't have the money.
It still isn't too late, but I'd have to convince my wife and that might take some doing.
jennifer408
Well-known Member
a wise old friend told me once that you should only look back long enough to know where you are headed.
If I could take what I know now back in time, I'd have bought as much Berkshire Hathaway stock at $19 per share in 1965 as I could, as those shares are worth $193,000 each today. Warren Buffet is a multi-billionaire, a few million would work for me.
But realistically, I changed college major to civil engineering in my junior year, but was lost at calculus. I also had to bail out of college to join the National Guard in 1969, and when I got done with basic and AIT, I changed majors and ended up a lawyer. Wish I had taken remedial math and given civil engineering another run, because I think I'd have been much happier in that profession.
As far as personal life, its been pretty good- don't know what I'd change. Relationship with wife has never been what you'd call "white hot", but we're aging well together, have great kids and grandkids, so no complaints.
But realistically, I changed college major to civil engineering in my junior year, but was lost at calculus. I also had to bail out of college to join the National Guard in 1969, and when I got done with basic and AIT, I changed majors and ended up a lawyer. Wish I had taken remedial math and given civil engineering another run, because I think I'd have been much happier in that profession.
As far as personal life, its been pretty good- don't know what I'd change. Relationship with wife has never been what you'd call "white hot", but we're aging well together, have great kids and grandkids, so no complaints.
I wouldn't have spent my time trying to please other people and be what they wanted me to be, instead I should have done what I knew was right instead of trying to be "cool". I would have shut my ears to every whining, complaining cry baby that I worked with that I let train me to be a whining, complaining cry baby. We were lucky to have the jobs we did and none of us really gave it what it was worth. Took me a long time to figure out that no one owes any of us anything. It's taken even longer to develop the character to turn down the "easy" answers and do it right. I would have stopped trying to save the unsaveable and wasting my time on people that didn't want to change. I never would have started drinking. I would have listened to my dad more and my mom less, but I would have listened to both of them less than I did. I knew right from wrong in the first place, their justifications for a lot of what they did was based on booze.
Mostly, I wouldn't have wasted my time dwelling on what I can't change now! :wink:
Mostly, I wouldn't have wasted my time dwelling on what I can't change now! :wink:
SweetFeet
Well-known Member
I was a live-in nanny for a couple years after high school for a physician and his wife.
They offered to help me find a job as a nanny almost anywhere in the world... because they were well traveled and knew people everywhere. I was a little midwest scardy-cat and wouldn't do it.
If I had the chance to be 20 again, I'd take them up on that offer and go to Europe for a few years just to see a bit of the world.
They offered to help me find a job as a nanny almost anywhere in the world... because they were well traveled and knew people everywhere. I was a little midwest scardy-cat and wouldn't do it.
If I had the chance to be 20 again, I'd take them up on that offer and go to Europe for a few years just to see a bit of the world.
Nancy Howell
Well-known Member
The road I traveled has a lot to do with who I am now.
There are times I think I would not have married my first husband, but if I hadn't traveled that road I would not have met and married James. James makes that hard road worth it.
There are times I think I would not have married my first husband, but if I hadn't traveled that road I would not have met and married James. James makes that hard road worth it.
Donald Lehman
Well-known Member
If I had it to do over again, the day after we were married we would have packed up what we could carry and got out of NY, headed west or south, and never looked back. Don't know for sure where we might have ended up, but it sure wouldn't have been NY! NY is a beautiful state, but the free corn ducks and those who pander to them, have about ruined it.
Most of the smart ducks flew outta here while they could still afford to leave. (that's right. I'm freely admitting I WASN'T one of the smart ones)
Most of the smart ducks flew outta here while they could still afford to leave. (that's right. I'm freely admitting I WASN'T one of the smart ones)
J.Wondergem
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rockford, Mi.
Mine would be the same as Paul from MI, "Not much--been really good so far! Don't know about the next 70 years, the direction of our country scares the cr@p out of me."
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