Looking At Our Lives with Regret or Satisfaction

I was sitting in Williams Coffee Pub with my mother this evening. Every so often we go there, have a chai tea and reminisce. While sitting there, she told me about how she met my father. It turns out that they met while at a New Years Eve Dance. He finally found the courage to ask her to dance at the stroke of midnight to the well known New Years Eve tune of Auld Lang Syne written by Scottish Poet Robert (Rabbie) Burns (1759 – 1796).

Now considering that we were reminiscing, it was ironic that we were talking about dancing to a song that spoke about old acquaintances and questions as to whether or not we should bring them to mind.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

Our conversation continued on with my mum mentioning that the person she had really wanted to dance with that night was this other “chap” who she had previously met. I couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened had she danced with that other guy. Now this point is purely conjecture but one can’t help but wonder how our lives would have turned out had we made different decisions throughout our lives.

As we reminisce, I suppose we can look back on our decisions with satisfaction or regret but regardless of how we view our past, hopefully we can look back and accept that we did the best we could and therefore make peace with ourselves knowing that we have the rest of our lives ahead of us and it is what we do now with our lives is what counts.

After reminiscing about that New Years Eve dance, my mother said that had she not met my father that night, she might never had married him and would therefore never have had my sister and I as her children… I think it is safe to say that she was definitely satisfied with her decision that night!

Actually, I am pretty glad as well!