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I am almost positive this is the last day of ‘Memory Week’ at The Napkin Dad Daily
I am not a big regret guy. But I do regret some things I did. I regret not treating my first wife better. I regret not working harder as an artist. But truly most of my regrets are about the things I didn’t do. Usually from lack of courage.
My daughters and I went to Europe in 2003, before I met Linda, my wife. We spent a few days in Venice, Italy and one evening we took a long water taxi ride. During the ride I went out back, away from my daughters, and met a couple with a third person. The third person was a attractive woman who was suppose to come with someone else but that person had bowed out at the last moment and as a result she obviously felt like a third wheel. She was funny, cute and endearing and I liked talking with her a great deal.
We had a very nice, animated conversation about all sorts of things; what we did, how we liked Europe, etc. They were going to a certain restaurant for dinner, we were going elsewhere. But the woman mentioned that after dinner she didn’t know what she was going to do. She didn’t want to hang out with the couple the entire time, wanting to give them some ‘alone’ time in the romantic environment.
I told her I wasn’t sure what we were going to do either. We continued to talk about this and that and then it was our stop to get off. I knew where she was going to dinner, and where she was staying. We got off, went to dinner and then walked around a bit until we went back to our B & B. It was an enjoyable evening.
But to this day, I regret not having made plans with that woman to meet up after our dinners and take a walk around Venice. I regret not telling my grown daughters I was going to take off for an hour or so after we got back to the B & B, and go and find the woman to take that walk. I don’t imagine a great love affair, I only imagine a nice walk with a new friend who I wanted to spend more time with.
Funny too, in the absence of actually having that memory, I have an imagined memory about what would have happened.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Sydney J. Harris, 1917-1986, American Journalist