If you could travel back through time, what single mistake would you correct in life?

Answer 1

I would never have married my first husband.

Answer 2

Knowing what a turbulent life I've had since being married,
and dealing with my late inlaws, and children, and my mother
as the result of my marriage, I'd go back and marry a fiance
I had, that had been my first love. When we reunited a few years later by his doing, things began moving too fast due to his mother planning things. I got cold feet and I wasn't sure I did want to marry him after all. And then he sent a letter
to my previous boyfriend, and I was really blown away he'd
go behind my back, just to ensure that the previous boyfriend
wouldn't try to come back. And he'd told him something not true, just to ensure that.
So I was so shocked, I called him and told him I never wanted
to see him again. I was a person with scruples. And couldn't
handle that he betrayed me. Now I'd like to go back and
try to rectify things. Maybe I could have avoided that entire
scenario from happening.
He lives very comfortably today, and has three children,
and probably grand children. And they are in a new home. Since I have lived so poorly for so many years, I'd like to have had security in my old age, living well as I imagined I would by now. At one time, I thought we were perfectly matched in every way. We never had one argument in the two years we'd been together. Just the angry moment that was my yelling at him through the phone. He didn't wait too long to marry, nor did I, it seems. And he's been married the same amount of years.
Our parents had expected for us to marry and mom was so
set on that happening, that no one could have taken his place.
Had I married him, my family would have been so much
different toward me than they became. As my fiance was
like part of the family coming back into the fold again. I
think we were engaged about two weeks, when I broke up
with him. And I've regretted it for more years than I'd admit.
My mom was never quite the same toward me again. I know
how disappointed she was in not getting him for a son in law.
But she never mentioned him again.

Answer 3

I learned alot from married to my first wife, and as painful as it was, I would not change that. Frankly, I don't think anyone who doesn't go through it, will not listen to advice about problems. It was a learning experience.

Probably, I would have finished my last year of college before I joined the Army, and if I could change that, I would have gone Air Force instead of the Army!!! FTA...

Answer 4

I would have told my best friend that I loved him when I first got feelings about him...before he made some stupid mistakes because I was dating another guy...
However, we have not been together 4 1/2 years and have a 2 year old son

Answer 5

Here is my poem to answer your question.

"My Unknown Father"


Would Holden Caulfield approve or call me a hypocrite,
a phony to invoke his name
Why not just begin simply and state matter-of-factly
I am sixteen and I spit in my father’s face
This is not a metaphor, simile or any figure of speech
This is the literal truth

We were arguing and an overwhelming feeling of contempt,
disgust, rage and profound disrespect came over me
It wasn’t simple hatred, but something else
a feeling of nausea
Something not to be borne
not to be tolerated
Something to be wiped out
Obliterated

My father’s reaction was quick
He was running after me
I ran to my room and shut the door
He wanted to break the door down and beat me
My mother wouldn’t let him
My father’s fury had to give in,
to surrender to my mother’s love for me

Did my father forget this incident against his dignity, his authority
I don’t know
What I do know is that I suffer
like Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment

I have never forgotten my crime against my father
I live with the guilt of my dirty deed
I live with my animalism, my barbarism
I know I’m guilty of the great forbidden

When my father was on his death bed
it occurred to me to ask his forgiveness
But something stopped me
What if he had forgotten this terrible injury
What if he had forgotten and now just for my own selfish reasons
I would remind him of this spit
What if he did remember, but didn’t want to be reminded of this spit

In the end, I just asked his forgiveness for not being a good enough daughter
My father answered “You’re good. All my children are good”.
This goodness my father thought was in his children.
This goodness was in him, my father.

Now that my father is dead
I realize my crime is even greater than that spit
And the guilt is mine forever to treasure

Why did I know so little about my father
When he would call me, my usual response was
I don’t have time to talk
I’m on my way out
When he would call at a more convenient time for me
the conversation revolved around me
Was I alright?
Did I need help?
Help meant money
Yes, I was alright
No, I didn’t need help

But did I know anything about his life?
Did I ever ask about his life?
The unbearable truth is that I never thought about his life
Never thought was he alright
Meaning health
Never thought did he need help
Not money, of course, but caring,
a father - daughter connection

After my father passed away, I was informed that he had volunteered
He never spoke about himself and what he did for others
Now we will never speak and I will live with my crimes against my father

But whenever I have the chance, usually to a close friend
I say these words to honor him
the honor I deprived him of during his life
I give to him now that it’s too late

My father was the most honest man I ever knew
My father was the most modest man I ever knew
My father was a good man
And now it’s too late for me to know him

Answer 6

I would never marry and have children.

EDIT: For Jack. Truman never made Israel a territory. It was never a territory of the US. Great Britain turned over the fate of Palestine to the United Nations and pulled out. The United Nations voted to partition Palestine and Israel. Go read a history book. What we did was recognize the new nation.

Answer 7

The term "hearts are broken by words left unsaid" comes to mind.
I would tell the boy Ioved how I truely felt. I had no idea he would be ripped from my life and the life of many others. Maybe things would have been different then.

Answer 8

I would have taken better care of my mom. I have a lot of guilt over it, but I was young, had 2 little kids, divorced and trying to get my life in order.
My mother died in 1993 from an irreversible brain disorder.

Answer 9

When I was 15 I stood by while one of my best friends got bashed by bigger 16 year olds. If I could go back in time i'd get in there and help him even though I'd get the crap smashed out of me because I was sooo tiny.

Answer 10

I would make sure that Marty McFly's mom and dad kiss ,at the enchantment under the sea highschool dance, back in 1955.

Answer 11

I probably would go back and marry my current husband during my youth rather than breaking up with him, going on with my life and then marrying him some 13 years later.