Thursday, March 19, 2009

If I could turn back time...

I never thought I’d say this but, I really like a new CBC show. “Being Erica” is about a 30-something woman who feels that her mediocre life is caused by all the bad decisions she’s made in the past. Now she has the opportunity to go back in time, fix her mistakes and, hopefully, change her life. Sure, every week there’s a life lesson for Erica, but the idea of going back in time is what inspired this posting.
What would I do if I could go back in time? To be fair, I have to take the “invest in Google” or “bet on the BoSox” etcetera ideals out of the picture, and focus on the decisions that I made. To be honestly I’d probably still make a lot of the same mistakes over again, after all, it’s those goof ups that made me what am today. Good or bad, I believe this is the person I want to be. But what WOULD I do if I could turn back time?
I WOULD:
 Take a ton of pictures! I’d take photos of places and things that have changed over the years: the nursery fields that I played hide ‘n seek in, the old barn we climbed through a dozen times, my old games I played, downtown Fonthill, Diana Sweets, Warren Knit, the buildings they’ve torn down and all the landmarks that are now gone . Every once in awhile I find myself digging through the St. Catharines library archives searching for old photos.
 Spend more time playing cards with my grandpa. I never thought I’d miss him as much as I still do.
 Say thank you to the teachers that made such a difference in my life. I now know how much that means to a teacher.
 Never have given away my hockey cards. Yes, I had hockey cards.
 Hang on to my games Green Ghost and Mystery Date – they just don’t make games like that any more.
 Have watched the entire Rocky Horror Picture Show at the drive-in; instead of spending so much time with my friends doing what teenagers do at a drive-in.
 Go to school longer. I was so anxious to make my “mark on the world” I just wanted to start working. What was I thinking? I should have stayed in school, all the way to a PHD. It’s a lot harder to do when you haven’t been in school for … a long time.
 NOT have drunk so many gin and tonics at my brother’s wedding.
 NEVER have played baseball on the same team as my sister. Big mistake.
 Have kept a journal during the Blizzard of ’77.
 Slid into second in the Nationals semi-finals face first, saved me a lot of rehab.
 Paid more attention in Mrs. Love’s Home Ec class (maybe I’d be able to make a supper now without the smoke detector going off.)
 No matter how much convincing it would have taken, I’d insist my Grade 9 boyfriend didn’t get in the truck after the dance that autumn evening. Maybe he would still been alive today.
 Have kept all my concert ticket stubs.
 Take a year off to travel through Europe, when I was young and had no kids. Now it’s just a dream.
 I totally would have kept my old “Apollo” stereo, it was so cool, at least I thought it was. I still don’t know whatever happened to it.
 Been friendlier to all the geeks in high school, for they now rule the world.
 Saved all the crazy stories I used to write, back when I loved to write all the time.
 Most importantly, I would NEVER have bought my son an Xbox.
That’s a start – one more thing I would do if I could turn back time, and I still kick myself for not doing – that’s recording all the family stories my grandparents told and written them in a book. To quote Roots author Alex Haley, “when an old person dies, it’s like a library burned down.”

6 comments:

  1. I have not watched the show 'Being Erica', however, the theme interests me. I enjoyed reading all of the things you would do if you were able to go back in time. It made me laugh when you commented 'not drink as many gin and tonics at my brothers wedding', aha.
    That is such an interesting question to ask yourself. Not sure what I would do if I could go back in time. Taking more pictures is definetly up there. Also, taking up a sport like field lacrosse or hockey. I think I would have been good at that.

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  2. I started to watch this show after you mentioned it in class. However, I am very forgetful and never actually catch it when it airs on the television. I am glad that the CBC offers programs online because I have been able to keep up with Being Erica.

    I have a lot of things that I would do differently if I had the chance to repeat them, but I do think that I learned valuable lessons because of the mistakes I have made. I think the greatest lesson I have learned to date is that we have to let the people we care about know that they are important to us right now because we are never guaranteed anything but the present.

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  3. I liked this post a lot, it made me think myself about what I would if I could turn back time. And definitely I agree with you about the travels: once you have children it becomes so hard. For the 9 years I was living in Canada I have always wanted to visit Vancouver, and now with 2 kids it seems like a dream...

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  4. 'Being Erica' is a great show. I think the CBC has come along way in the quality and type of TV show it produces and this particular one does force you to think about your own life choices.

    I do hope that this show does not end up like a lot of other Canadian shows, where it goes unnoticed without a following and ends up getting the axe because of a lack of viewers.

    As for what I would do if I could go back and change a few things in my life, well my overall answer would be to invest in Yahoo!, besides that I am pretty content with my life.

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  5. I like this show too but it conflicts with another show I watch so i hardly evern catch it.

    The idea of changing the past sound too goo to be true. Not that I have alot of things that need changing just little things like I should have taken up that offer or bought that.

    But as of reading this post it is my mission to take more pictures and keep all concert stubs and find an old theatre that play rocky horror picture show so I can throw toast and dress in drag atleast once in my life

    Kelly

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  6. This was an interesting post and a tough question. I think you have a good point when you say you would probably make a lot of the same mistakes again. Afterall it is how we learn.
    One thing I try to do whenever I am home is find the time to play cards with my granny. It brings back so many childhood memories. Thanks for reminding me of that :)
    ~ Teefy

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