Four months ago I was dooced after I posted a video on my blog complaining about how close together the urinals were in my office restroom. In my defense, how could I have possibly known that bringing a video camera into the men’s room (and women’s room) would be considered behavior unbecoming of an accountant? Like you Heather, I have no regrets about losing my job, because I’m a writer and pretending to be accountant was killing me. Now not eating is killing me (and the wife and kids).

My one regret: I wish I had discovered that drinking was fun in college.

I DON'T regret spending most of my afternoon/evening reading these comments, hitting refresh and reading the new ones. Like 20 times. This is amazing - good call. And happy blog-versary, congrats.

I'd wish I'd gone to the more prestigious college of the two main ones I decided between.

I wish that after college, I'd listened less to my parents' urgings of financial stability and just threw everything to the wind and really tried to be a professional actor.

I wish I hadn't married that first guy, for all the wrong reasons, even though it ultimately led me to marry the second one, for all the right reasons.

And then, privately. That one time, in Lake Elsinore? I wish I had not done what I did. I wish that all the time.

I wish I had found your blog sooner.

I, and my crepe-y neck are right with you there on the sunscreen.

I would also have spent less time trying to be more cool than everyone.

I'm only 22, so really I've got plenty of time to screwup but from the last few years

- I would have chosen a major that didn't require math so I could have graduated a year ago
-I wouldn't have cheated on my boyfriend with such a loser
-I would have decided to be on the pill instead of the patch

I know they seem a little trivial and there huge moral message, but never take a birth control that leaves nasty sticker marks on your butt cause the nasty sticker marks are a better birth control than the hormones

If I could do it over, I would say no a lot more times. I wouldn't go back to his room. I wouldn't let him kiss me. Not him, and not the next guy, the next, the next, or the next.

If I could do it over again, I'd still have the world's most beautiful engagement ring on my finger. I'd still be the girl who'd only had sex with the guy she loved the most. He would still tell me that I was the best thing that ever happened to him, not the worst.

I would have believed in myself and finished school in my twenties and gone on to grad school instead of smoking pot and marrying a loser.

I regret that I didn't start taking antidepressants years ago. I fought going into therapy afraid to uncover what was behind my suicidal thoughts. I thank God for my husband of 25 years who stuck beside me and continued to prod me to get help. I've been on medication for four years and I can't even describe the difference it's made in my life!

I wish I would not have slept with 2 guys, and would have slept with this other one.

and I would have strarted writing professionally before last summer.

as a white white red head, I always regret leaving my room every morning, no matter the weather, without putting on my SPF WHITE (as my high school boyfriend called it)

I feel really lucky to have had so many of oppurtunities that people have regretted missing - studying abroad, being fluent in another language, and I feel like for someone who's only 21 I have a lot of the same regrets too:

I regret, at least a little, spending the last couple hours reading these comments instead of writing my paper, which is already a week late. but that's not really a regret, because I've had trouble writing for weeks since I finished my SECOND senior project.

I regret cutting in high school (and in college) because I didn't know what else to do to deal with my depression - but I don't wish I hadn't done it, because it makes me who I am, scars and all.

I do regret never telling off the "friend" who sexually assaulted me, apologized and assumed we could be friends after that. I wish I could have said, no, F-you, we can not, we WILL NOT be friends. I wish that he hadnt IMed me for the first time in four years as I was thinking about writing this, and I wish I had been able to ignore his messages, or at least not be nice.

I regret falling in love with someone my first year of college who could never love me back, and I regret that even after three and half years I've never walked away from that relationship/friendship because he means so much to me.

but mostly I love my life, and who I am, and what I'm doing -- even if it involves not writing my late paper until some other night.

thanks for sharing your life Heather, I've loved it since I started reading, it's inspirational and entertaining, I love that I can read your site and laugh or cry. I've loved watching your beautiful daughter grow up. I've made time for it nearly every day, even during my study abroads!

~ Lauren (or Lou, to friends and family)

This is a tough question. I don't regret marrying my husband, living in Texas or having my beautiful children. I do wish I would have taken a year off before I went to law school to "follow the dream" of making it in the entertainment industry or on Broadway. I regret not having done it, because now, quite frankly, I'm probably too old. I don't weigh a buck twelve anymore and now that I'm staying home with my kids and dabbling in other things while they're at school twice a week, I'm happy. But I still feel like there's more life for me to live. There's something bigger that I'm supposed to do. I'll figure out what it is eventually, but I try not to go to the land of regret. I'd rather focus on the wonderful things about my life, and there are plenty.

I do know that I will never discourage my kids from following their dreams or their passions. You wanna be an artist? Have at it. Dancer? Go for it. Garbage truck driver? As long as you're happy. Because that's all that matters in the end. Not the best fill-in-the-blank in the universe? Most people aren't. I just want them to be happy and to live without regret. Because regret is a very dangerous thing.

I wish that I had asked Mercedes Blair to the prom. However, like you, I have learned from that moment and I try hard not to let my fears get in the way of living life.

It's taken me a while but I feel so much better now that I don't worry about what other people think of me.

Happy Blogoversary! Oh, couldn't you have refrained from buying EVERYTHING on Maggie's Target registry? The kid's going to be in college before I figure out what to send her!

I would have eaten less french fries and more salad during my pregnancy so now, 5 months later, I wouldn't have to live off of celery and splenda to drop the akward and jiggly 70 pounds I gained. My son is totally worth it but dammit, I miss being hot.

Somedays I think that I'd rather be a full-time mom than a doctor. If I could go back now, knowing what beautiful little boys I'd end up with, I might pick mommyhood over med school. I love medicine, but I don't love missing all those everyday moments with my babies.

EXCEPT... Being a doctor defines me (plus I did meet my husband in med school). If I did it differently I wouldn't be me, and I'd probably be sitting here wishing I had a fulfilling career. The grass is always greener!

Thank you for your blog. You are a gifted writer.

I wish I hadn't wanted to be so pretty that I hated everything I ever had. I wish I hadn't wanted to be as thin as the other girls so that I became anorexic. I wish I had more self-confidence in anyone liking me for me, so that I wouldn't have put myself in the position to be raped by whom I thought was my best friend. I wish I had never flirted with him either. And I wish I had known he was dead when he died, instead of fearing him for 4 additional years of my life. And I wish I had the strength still to hate him, but at that point he had children, and I could not. They were blameless. I wish I hadn't gone straight to the next man who would take me, and neat the shit out of me every day. I wish I hadn't married the first guy who was kind of me, because we should have just been friends (and still are thankfully). I wish I had ended our marriage when it died, and not wait until he went crazy from me and I went to another man. I wish I had never gotten into this debt that eats my very existence. I wish I cared about my school work, but all I really want is to have a child and be a wife. Sometimes, I wish I was never born. But always I know my pain isn't even as close to the simple wish of Christine at the beginning. Because I have never had a child. And for that I am thankful. And I am also thankful that I ended up with the man I have now. He is wonderful. I just wish he was here or even allowed to visit.

I regret my complete refusal to acknowledge that I was suffering any kind of mental illness for so long. Everything is turning out ok now, but I think the road might have been considerably less bumpy, for myself and many people in my life, if I had gotten help for my depression and anxiety much sooner.
The only other thing in my life which I truly regret and would change in a heartbeat was not having a plan in case my pet got ill. Which she did. And I had no clue what to do, and I think she suffered uncessarily. I wish that I had taken time to research when I first realized she was ill, instead of convincing myself that I would just wake up to a rattie who had passed peacefully in the night. For that, I am sorry, Baby.

I regret caking my lungs with tar and scar tissue and squelching the synapses that could have fired in my brain when I was thirteen. Otherwise, I'm just trying to enjoy myself as much as possible before I have to experience the adverse effects of my actions when I was too young and dumb to know better. Cheers...

Crap--forgot to add: I wish Dooce had been around when I had my child. Probably wouldn't have gone as crazy.

There is only one thing I would change if I could.

Last time I went down the Caribbean to visit my father, I would have had that last photo taken of us together instead of thinking .oO(ahhh he's not going anywhere, I'll do it next time). I would have also hugged him harder and made sure he knew I loved him.

I wish I would have left my husband when I found out he was cheating on me with my 17 year old sister. But I didn't. And we had another baby. Now I feel stuck. Why wasn't I stronger back then? I was only 24. it's true - they don't stop.

oh and "happy birthday dooce.com" :)

I really wish I hadn't eaten that Caesars Salad that would, eventually, send me into renal failure. That whole on dialysis 45 days before my 22 birthday? Totally sucked. Funny enough, it still does. . .

I think it is good of you to publicly forgive your former boss. I'm sure it was no easy thing, and there may be some of your fans with a hate session towards her going on..even though they don't know either of you personally.

I too agree that it's best to live without regrets or replaying "should-haves". I never really had a regret for anything in my life except for one doozy of a wish to turn back time:

I would have not postponed, for work obligations, a trip back to the U.S. to see my family and best friend at Thanksgivng/Christmas time a couple of years ago. I ended up arriving home early the next year only to learn that my friend had died in a car accident on the day I left Melbourne.

That I let people in I shouldn't have. Thus wasting time.

I wish I had practiced safe sex in college.

If I could change one thing about my past it would be my egocentrism. For so long, I thought I was the most special thing to ever be born into this world. I thought I was perfect, I could do no wrong, everybody wanted to be me or be with me. I was the queen of the universe. Whew. Unbelievable. I wish I had learned a lot earlier, the lesson that while I am special in my very own way, I am no more special than the rest of the human race. There will always be people who are smarter, prettier, wittier, kinder, and more talented than me. If I had known that from childhood, I would have spared so many hurt feelings. Mine and others. I would have not isolated myself from my friends. I would have tried harder and done more with the talents I actually do possess.
Dooce- congrats on 6 years! You are awesome and you have helped me so much. Thank you.

Oh yeah, I would change quite a few things.
To name a few, I would have believed in myself more and stop listening to what my mother's opinion was when all along it was my life decisions not hers to what I wanted to do as far as a career or education.
I really wish I would have realized how much of a pathological liar she was or that I couldn't trust her because she would tell everyone I knew bad things about me and my family as well as tell everyone my dad died when he is very much alive.
This may become boring or long so I will leave only after I add this, even though I may have trusted my mother at one time, I obeyed her every command, I did almost everything she asked of me up until I was about 25 years old, she can't bring me down or mentally and physically abuse me ever again. She will never control my thinking or make me become something I don't ever want to be.
I feel better now..
OK..Now can I end with this?
Happy 6th Birthday to Dooce's website! Thank you Heather for all the laughter and for sharing you true self to the world.
I have learned a lot of new things from reading things you have wrote and I hope you will carry on even when you are a old granny sitting in a rocker waving a cane in the air to scare everyone away, scratching your butt, picking your nose, waiting for poop or farts, dressing up your dog making him do tricks for us, taking pictures with the most coolest technology, you will even be cracking wise jokes about the stupid comments I leave as well as wishing I could study enough English so I would finally write better without so may long run on sentences.... :) Cool site, keep it up, and give Chuck a extra pat on his head for all the cool poses hes done every now and then...
Peace!

Happy Birthday Dooce!
My regret is half regret/half not. In a way I wish I had have started to have babies with my husband earlier than we did and then I might have had a chance to convince him to have two instead of one. On the other hand, I would not trade the baby I did have for the world. Then I regret having those thoughts because it makes me feel guilty and disloyal to my wonderful son.

I wish I had had kids a bit younger when fertility was not an issue. I'm so blessed to have my 5 yr old, but I have been ttc for 4 yrs with two m/c at 12 weeks, one just last week. I am so sad, in my mission to have a second child. At 41, things just do not work the way they did.

I had the chance to go to London for six months in my junior year and I didn't do it because my boyfriend at the time didn't want me to. He then decided sleeping with other people was what was in his best interest, so I spent that semester sad in Tempe instead of getting over him surrounded by sexy British accents. I still haven't made it over there.

Congrats on the anniversay and from the sound of it HB as well.

At 51 I am trying to live more in the moment instead of the past and fretting about the future. I'm just trying to be 'present'.

I regret not recognizing my marriage was bad and getting out sooner. I know that 51 is not old, but it seems an odd place to be dating, or in my case not dating. It just kills me,,,,,50 year old men do not date 50 year old women, they date 30 & 40 year old women. 70 year old men want to date me,,,,geez.

I can relate to you because I am probably gonna lose my job over a blog I wrote recently. It sucks to be in this situation. I don't know whether to regret what I wrote or to be relieved. I guess I won't know how to feel for a long time. Love to read your page. You're very clever.

#1. I wouldn't have slept with that one guy.
#2. I would have worn more sunscreen in my days of living in Africa, the Caribbean and Mexico. Boy was I stupid not to.

I wore to my eighth-grade dance white shoes, white pants and a white shirt with a black-and-red silk tie, and a white fedora with a red band around it. I weighed about 85 pounds, most of which was comprised of my large head, upon which the large, white hat was perched. I have photos. They are monuments to regret.

I was a slow learner; I wore the same outfit, minus the hat (thank god) to my first day of high school. A girl named Jodi placed a dollop of ketchup on her finger and pressed it into the middle of my back. I can't say I blame her.

This is like PostSecret without the arts and crafts.

No significant regrets yet. The bigger fear is actually having them later.

Despite having a major nervous breakdown before applying to vet school, I would have stuck with my plan to go to veterinary school because dammit, I'm a hell of lot better with animals than people. But at the same time, I should stop regretting almost every day that I went to law school instead. It is my decision and I cannot blame anyone else for it.

I also regret not encouraging my husband to interview at the university in washington state because northeast winters SUCK!

i do not regret my crazy wonderful marriage, my menagerie of critters, my decision to stay with my current law firm, our decision to wait to start a family until we are economically sound, and treating my great big lovable Irish Wolfhound's cancer.

I wish I never would've flashed that trucker on I-77.

Beth-I once flashed a trucker on I-55. Oddly enough, I feel like that might have been one of the high points in my life. Although, I do regret throwing up on myself right afterwards.

Maybe we are The Odd Numbered Interstate Flashing Sisters.

enid regrets those cartoons of prophet mohammed she did for jyllands-posten. she'd not so sure she did the right thing over suez, she wishes she'd never even thought of inventing the gas chamber, and the whole of the first world war was just one big mistake from start to finish. (she wasn't even aiming at archduke franz ferdinand.)

but when all is said and done, the thing she regrets most in all the world is that tattoo of a bleeding heart on her left buttock.

These are all beautiful. It's nice to see that we're really all in the same boat, isn't it?

I used to regret not taking the initiative to look for a new job and to make changes in my life. I was afraid that I wasn't good enough. Then, over the course of five weeks, I sent out résumés, scheduled an interview, and was offered a job that's going to be just about better than anything. It's nice not to be afraid anymore!

I wish I'd forced my mom to have a mammogram about ten years before she found the lump that eventually killed her.

I know that's really depressing and I should try and say something funny, but it's truely the biggest regret of my life.

I once had a horrible boss and job. When I was leaving, my boss asked me to write up a job description of what I did to use as an advertisement.

It included things like, "must be willing to swallow pride on daily basis," "must be skilled at purchasing coffee and creamer", and "middle name 'Xerox' preferable." My only regret is giving her the PC one. I should have left her know how I really felt. The look on her face as she was reading it would have been worthy of one of those Mastercard Priceless commercials.

I regret that I jumped into the mosh pit after drinking half a keg of beer. If I hadn't done that then, I wouldn't be spending so much freakin time at the chiropractor's now.

Can you regret hearing something? I regret being present for my aunt telling me something that has scarred me for life.

I don't have any regrets about my actions. Even the bad ones were much like yours... a product of their time and part of who I am today.

I wish I'd known that puffy pirate blouses (or peasant blouses or blouses for peasant pirates or whatever they were called circa 1990) were actually quite awful. Particularly when made out of imitation silk.

I wish I hadn't said to my boss, "I'll do what you say because you're the boss, but I'll never agree with you." Because he fired me the next day. I don't really regret it, because it was true, but I do wish I wouldn't have said it.

I regret:

Not wearing my headgear, I still have an overbite

Even going onto MySpace, I hate that website. (i have coworkers who found me, and think they are now my 'friends')

Saying No to the cute boy at summercamp, and yes to the taxi cab driver who ended up stalking me after I lost my virginity to him.

I broke up with the love of my life today.

He could'n't stop crying. The vision of him slumped against the wall crying his eyes out will forever haunt me. i did that. Because i wasn't strong enough to deal with his shit, that i know wasn't his fault. That was due to a depression that he & I & you have suffered from.

I will always regret that.
That I wasn't strong enough. That I broke his heart. That I couldn't stop his tears.

after thought:

I regret dating one of my best friend's ex boyfriends, which ended our relationship - both our physical relationship (which was AWESOME) and our friendship (which meant a whole lot to me)

that's something I learned a lot from though -- so yeah. seems silly to comment again, but it feels good to say these things/get them off my chest after years and years.

You got fired for THAT?

I regret dating a guy in my office, which actually turned into a crazy, obsession/addiction, wherein he lied and cheated and drove me to try and commit suicide. Definite low point in my life.

I wish someone would have told me that entomology IS a viable option for a college major.

And I wish that I hadn't allowed myself to think that the kids I went to high school with were better than me in anyway because of what neighborhood they lived in.

I wish that I had married the man standing on the right path at my crossroads instead of the other one.

Dooce! Butterlies?!! Dooce and butterflies my brian cannot connect!

It's a beautiful header I just thought I was on the wrong website at first. I have never seen something so feminine as your header. :) I kept telling my computer no I want to see Dooce and after several clicks I paused long enough to read and was in shock I had been on Dooce the whole time!

This is a cool comments section - funny and poignant and thought-provoking.

I don't have many regrets in this life, because it's a wasted emotion - nothing you can do about it now, I say. With that caveat out of the way, there are a couple of things I wish I did differently, and the fact that I didn't still haunts me.

I wish I hadn't married him, so that I wouldn't have to hurt him so much later on my way out. I wish I could have told him the truth but I was too scared and too concerned with protecting myself to give him the truth. And that's all he really wanted.

I wish I had not slept in her bed.

I, like you, have done quite a bit of self examination of late.

I am a very flawed person, but I still wouldn't change a single thing about my life. Once I realized that I couldn't fix everyone and everything that needed fixing, I began to see MYSELF for the very first time. It occurred to me that I am who I am because of (and in spite of) all the crap I've been through.

The hard stuff has made me one thankful, carefree, humble, strong woman.

So, nope. No regrets here.

I regret going off anti-depressants not once, but twice, because i "thought i was strong enough to handle it."

Instead it found me in the deepest and darkest place I've ever been considering what would really be so bad about swallowing that entire bottle of pills in the bathroom.

I started taking medication two days ago again. This time I'm not stopping.

Thanks for making me laugh on those lowest, darkest days.

I would never, ever have used a credit card. Oh, the anguish I would have saved myself. But it is just money after all - so if that is my biggest regret, then I'd say I have a pretty wonderful life.

Happy Birthday Dooce - the most important thing is to remember where we've come from and take our next steps with the knowledge and wisdom we've acquired from this journey.

Too many stupid things I did in the past that I now regret to list, but I guess they got me where I am today-- which is a really good place.

I just wish I could have gotten here without so much anguish and sorrow along the way. But tis life.

Happy 6th. Love your and Jon's blogs.

I regret not having the courage to apply to medical school after college. I don't regret calling off weddings #1 and #2 because the third time is the charm. I don't want to regret not having a third child.
Thanks Heather, your blog is a bright spot.
Happy Anniversary!

Notice how so many people regret the things they did NOT do? Interesting. We could all learn form that, obviously...

Hello Heather. I have never commented before, but I thought I might on your anniversary. I started a blog about a year ago, and I love the artistic outlet it gives me. As well as a way to "look back". Thank you for the inspriation.

If I had a "re-do", I would have been more careful with my cell phone when I tried not to answer because it was my " Step-mother-in-law". Unfortunately, she heard me say, "Oh, it's just my mother-in-law, I don't feel like talking to her right now anyway." One long letter, and several appologies later, and she is finally over it. Talk about open mouth, insert huge foot. At least she knows how I truly feel about her, right?

Happy 6th, Blurbodoocery, I am totally on the bandwagon and read your site(s) faithfully and with much anticipation every morning!

In reading through the regrets, I couldn't decide if I'd post or not, and here I am, so you know my choice.

Do I regret not telling anyone what he was doing to me when I was between the ages of 4-9? No. What I regret is that I didn't know I could. I regret that I believed him when he told me that if I'd had a daddy, "this" is how he'd love me. I sincerely regret that he died before I could confront him.

I regret taking myself so seriously, I'm getting better about that but it's a slow process to unfurl the knots.

I regret that so far, I've loved more than I've been loved, and at 35, I'm scared that's not going to change.

I regret not taking risks in my life. I regret not living a life less ordinary.

All in all, the person I am is shaped by the missteps I've taken in life, and she's a pretty great girl, but sometimes, oh, sometimes I wish I could go back and make different choices armed with the knowledge I've gained living my life. If we could only be so lucky!

Thanks, dooce, for the forum!

If I could turn back time... If I could find my way...

haha. That is so gay. Starting a comment with a Cher song. Even Liberace would gag if he read that.

For real though I would have eaten better when I was younger and taken better care of myself. I'm 31 now and I look back at all the Dr. Pepper and sugar I've consumed and it is a wonder I have any kidneys at all. So now I am making up for it by taking vitamins and eating right and drinking shots of wheatgrass and bloody mary's because, you know, if you are going to drink then you might as well drink with some tomato juice.

i wish i hadn't said yes to marrying andy and then said no two months later. i wish i would have said no to start with. i often think i should have ended things with him sooner, but if i had done that, i might have never met the love of my life.

congratulations dooce.com on being able to pay the mortgage!

Is your big toe really that big?

Hmmm, I would have insisted that I get my four degree so my wife wouldn't have as much power to make some of the decisions because she makes more than I do.

Other than that, life's been pretty good.

Organ Donation Awareness Project
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oneaday2007 http://causaleffect.blogspot.com

Are you an organ donor?
Have to talked to your family about it?

I don't think so. To change my past would change my character. I am who I am today because of it all. I don't think I would have been able to appreciate life the way I do at such a young age. I think I've become an awesome person because of the past. Maybe dating that drug dealer wasn't the best decision, but we all learn from our mistakes, right?

By the way, I am totally in love with your site. You are an awesome writer ... and I enjoy the humor you find in everyday life =)

I wish I wouldn't have let my boyfriend buy a Jeep instead of an engagement ring and a new kitchen table. Now, I have to break up with him, and I'm still using TV trays.

I regret letting so many who didn't love me in. I regret living in a fog for so many years. I regret not having four kids (I love the one, but more like him would be heaven.)

I regret closing down to the point that I can't find the key to open back up.

First of all, love your Web site. I'm a regular reader.

Even though some people say regrets are pointless, I still have my fair share of them....though I'm really pretty happy with where I ended up in life. But here are a few of mine.

Like so many of the others who posted before me, I regret taking myself so seriously when I was younger. I should have had more fun in high school and college and not worried about school so much. My good grades were pretty much meaningless in the long run, and I'd trade my high HS/college GPAs for more memories of crazy, wild times. I'm now 26--will be 27 this summer--and I've spent the last five or so years trying to make up for lost time.

I would have given some of the guys who wanted to date me, but whom I blew off, more of a chance. I was kind of a bitch back in the day.

I would NOT have been friends with this heinous girl who claimed to be my "best friend" for eight years, but was really trashing me behind my back and making passive-aggressive digs any chance she could get.

I wouldn't have wasted so much money buying stupid shit I wouldn't want in three years!

I would have picked a different college. The whole Big 10 thing wasn't for me.

I would have reconsidered going into my field. I decided to major in journalism in college at age 15 and by the time I got to college, was having some serious doubts about it, but was afraid to change my mind. I actually like the field better than I thought I would, but there's a lot about it that just sucks, and I go back and forth every day on whether I should leave.

Well, that was cathartic!

Like many others, I wish I had stood up for myself more and taken less crap. I put up with a lot because I was trying to be the 'nicest person'. After a long time, I learned that they don't give out "Nice person" awards - when people realize that you take crap, all you get is more crap.
I left my bad marriage after 20 years, and now at 44 I am finally learning to tell people what I want and standing up for myself. I am proud of myself, but I wish I had done it a little earlier in my life - like when my kids were little and learning from my example, and before my marriage was ruined. But I'm still young - I'm sure I have a lot more to learn.

I regret not having my ex-boyfriend arrested and pressing charges when he tried to kill me. But I did drive him into bankruptcy, so that's something, at least.

ps -- Happy birthday, Dooce.

I'm about to graduate from college with a worthless major. My plan for the moment is to go live with relatives in Buenos Aires for a year, and call it a "learning experience" on my resume.

I am pretty sure I will regret this. I sortof already do.

I wish I hadn't been so obsessed about guys from about age 12 onwards. If I had channeled even half of the energy I spent into getting laid, attempting to get laid, obsessing about not getting laid, wondering if the guy who laid me was ever going to call back, etc., into something a little more productive, I think I would have won the Nobel Prize by now (in something, I don't know what).

On the other hand (and this seems to be the common theme in these posts), being obsessed about guys from an early age got it out of my system so I could marry a decent one at age 30 and finally begin to focus on other things. And, thank the Lord, I never got pregnant or a horrible disease (even though I probably deserved one for being such a WHORE).

I wish that I had called my brother more.

In 25 more days, it will be exactly 3 years since he died.

His number is still programmed into my phone.

I wish flossing were a habit for me.

I wish I had danced with Tony at our 10-year HS reunion.

I wish I had told my parents the truth about 1981. From that regret, I have learned that you can draw the line today and start recovery, or you can draw the line tomorrow and prolong the pain.

While I do not regret my college choice exactly, I wish I had taken some time off to regain my sense of self after first semester knocked me on my kiester. Instead I pushed myself even harder "to make up for it." I regret spending the rest of college missing out because I was too overwhelmed or too depressed or too stressed to have adventures as the things I liked about myself slipped away. I regret that so often I knew what needed to be done to help myself and didn't get the help to do it.

"... but another, better and heavier trafficked site ..." now, that's sweet, really. (cut and pasted for accuracy)

I always say that I wish I hadn't spent a year out of school, but much in the same way of you not being fired, I wouldn't be the person I was if I didn't go through an entire year's worth of boredom and bullshit.

At my friend's birthday party, though, I tried to hook up with this guy I'd just met because I was using him as a rebound for this postal courier guy I had a fling with. It wasn't because I thought it was a bad idea, but because the next morning, the guy thought that I was "clingy" and my best friend actually told him that I was. And I think I was so mad about it was because I don't think I'm "clingy" at all.

I don't regret much in life. But I do regret that.

wow - congrats on your 6yr b-day!

I started reading your site because i read some online article about people being fired for their websites. When I first visited, you were already living in SLC and baby Leta had just been born. I read a few posts and was taken in by your writing style. I am particular. I have been know to toss an new book if I thought it was written poorly like Larry McMurtry's sequel (or was it the prequel) to the awesome Lonesome Dove. Your writing is clear. Your write pictures in my mind. I admire that 'cause I've tried to write... and I am not good.

I read your LA posts. Loved them. When I was in high school I used to watch Three's Company. I always wanted to move to LA (Santa Monica) and live among the palm trees. Never got around to it. Still live in the Chicago area to this day.

There is what I call -- the old me. The things I was interested in high school and college - things I just never pursued. I didn't pursue them because at the time I had no one to go to those places with me. I didn't want to go alone.

The old me wanted to:

*Move to Los Angeles (Santa Monica) and be a beach girl.

*Travel every nook and cranny of the world. I wanted to go to never traveled places in Asia, Russia and any places American’s had a hard time pronouncing.

*Live like a hippie/artist instead of a mortgage owning worrying about the bills sort of person I am now.

Sigh.

Just to let u know. I have you bookmarked in my newspapers section, because I visit our site nearly every day.

:-) Cheers

Oh - I have another regret (sorry for 2 posts in one night).

In third grade, our teacher was auditioning her class for some roles in a class play. She said that we had could audition for only three roles. Well, I didn't want use up all my auditioning, so I kept waiting for role I think I could play... and I waited, and waited. Finally all the roles were taken and I didn't even audition. She probably thought I had no interest in being in the play, but I dearly wanted to be involved.

Still remember it to this day. It is always the things I do not do that I most regret.

cheers Dooce!

Happy 6th Birthday dooce.com!

I am on my way out the door right now (it's 5:45pm in Australia, and i finished work at 5:00 after reading all these comments!), to buy sunscreen, and have a whole lot of (safe) sex because I am 22, and it's Friday night, and I don't want to regret not have done those things when i 'grow up!' :P

What a lot of good comments! Some that brought a lump to my throat, and some that made me smile...

Like so many of you, I try not to brood too much on the things I got wrong, but in the past year I've been totally kicking myself over one incident. In August last year I told my best friend what I thought of aspects of her behaviour. No, that's not the regret, I just wish I had told her 20 years earlier. One adapts and deals with things better when one is younger and a little more malleable and can still learn from ones friends. Now I fear she will never get over it, and as I have no intention of apologising for what I see as THE TRUTH (there's always at least 2 opinions on what that is...), I guess I will have to kiss that friendship goodye.

Another regret is that I did that 4th year at uni in Edinburgh. What a waste of time that was - I learned nothing new and it was all just a load of pretentious shite and a waste of money.

Thanks, Heather - I've tried to send the link to my friend hoping that someone else's words might make her laugh as well as think a little. She respects people she doesn't know a lot more than those she does (or thinks she does). Happy bloggiversary!

I've certainly made choices that were wrong or I wish I had not made, but they shape my life now, so I do not regret them.

The one thing I do regret and I would definitely change if I could is to realize how strong the genes for colon cancer is in our family and make sure my baby brother had been screened. Instead, he died at 29. I would give up a lot to go back and change that.

I wish I had brushed my teeth more as a kid, as my dental history nowadays involves nearly a filling every six months and crown #2 just around the corner.