The Regret List

Here are a few things I regret, that I'd love to go back in time and change:

1. That spring when my bird was sick, I'd spend more time with her. I was in the throes of a new and awful relationship and I kept thinking if I just put more time into it, it would get better. So I would feed my birds enough for two days and then take off and sleep at his house. It's not like more time and attention could have saved her, but it would have been nice - and now I can never have that with her. I still miss her so much.
2. That whole relationship, incidentally. What a waste. All that came out of it were a few good angsty poems, and a healthy suspicion of "that" type of person.
3. At all the rock concerts of my youth, I wish I had at least worn ear-plugs. After my first concert, I walked into the parking lot wondering why my ears had this fuzzy white feel to them, like they were wrapped in cotton wool. My friend grinned at me and said, "It'll go away in a day or two." At least, that's what it looked like she said.
4. I'd take that class my mom wanted me to, the one taught by the famous marine biologist. It was an elective and she kept reminding me about it, but somehow I just never found time.
5. The fight I had with my parents about a boy I wanted to date. It was our only fight, at least that I can remember. I even slammed doors, like a typical teenager. I probably made them feel awful.
6. Mean things I said when I thought we were breaking up last year.
7. Pinning moths for my summer job in the biology lab. They had been in the freezer for months and I thought they were dead. Some of them started to come back to consciousness after they were pinned, trying to twitch their wings. It was nightmarish. I put them back in the freezer and cried.

If I keep going, I could think of dozens more things, but that's enough for now.