If I Knew Then What I Know Now

I recently turned 55 years young and have been thinking of a post to commemorate that. I was going to list the things I witnessed in each decade (color TV, long-haired men, disco, Olympic marathon for women [go Joanie Benoit!], fall of the Soviet Union, rise of terrorism, and finally a women presidential candidate--oh wait! Scratch that one.) But today I had a dentist appointment and I have significant bone loss, which is bad when you consider it's what holds your teeth in. So I came up with a different list, one of things I would do differently if I had a second chance.

Regret is not something I wallow in. I realize that life experiences are what made me the woman I am today. If I had taken a different path, I wouldn't have met my husband, etc. I'm generally a pretty happy person and grateful for the life I have. But I'm feeling reflective, so for what it's worth here's my list:

I would have gone to college straight out of high school. In high school I was a terrible student, and couldn't wait to be out on my own. No one in my family went to college, and certainly not women. College for women was considered a waste of money, since she would just get married, stay home and have children. Only unmarried women went to work. I also thought that college was for people who knew what they wanted to do in life--doctor, lawyer, that kind of thing. I didn't know about a liberal arts education. I finally got a bachelor's degree in 2002, at age 49, and it was one of the proudest days of my life. But I was frustrated in my work life and I think if I had a college degree when I was younger, my career would have advanced and I would have made more money.

I would have started saving money when I was twenty and let the magic of compound interest work in my favor. It's hard to do when you're earning minimum wage, but it can still be done. I didn't understand any of that when I was twenty. I didn't understand a lot of things.

Mickey Mantle said, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." He got that right! I would have eaten better. Less sugar, more protein. My weight went up and down like a Duncan YoYo. And even when it was down, I had a low body image. One year (1973) I was looking for a New Year's Eve outfit. I maybe weighed 110 pounds, which was not a lot. I can remember trying on an outfit and rejecting it because it "made me look fat." Sheesh.

I would have started exercising early and often. Actually, in 1978 I started jogging. I was twenty-four then and married to my first husband, a smoker. The only running gear I owned was a pair of New Balance shoes--blue and lime green. I didn't know anything about pace or speed work; I just wanted to live a healthier lifestyle. One time I ran seven laps around my block and to keep going when I was tired, I envisioned people on the sidelines cheering me on. But I didn't even know how to find a race, much less run one. Remember, Google wouldn't exist until a couple more decades. Later when I met SD, we used to go jogging before work. We had a dog then and he would heel beside me as I ran. But we gave the dog away and eventually I stopped exercising. It's interesting to me that 30 years later I'm running races and people on the sidelines cheer me on.

Which brings me to pets. It wasn't until I had my last cat that I learned the way to your pets heart is to feed him. You can pet and coo all you want and they'll lap it up, but their loyalty is to the one who places the food dish on the floor. I also now believe that once you accept an animal into your home, you keep him for life.

Finally, back to the reason I started this post: I would have taken better care of my teeth. Although I haven't had a cavity in years, I've had my share of them. But more significantly, I would have heeded the warning to brush after every meal. And floss daily. That's not to sell more toothpaste, folks. It's because plaque forms from the saliva in our mouth and brushing removes it. When plaque isn't removed, bacteria adheres to it and starts to eat away at the gums and eventually the bone that supports the teeth. This is the bad news I got at the dentist office today. There's no replacing the bone that's lost. All I can do is try to halt further deterioration. "Ignore your teeth and they'll go away." Oy.

So that's the bit of wisdom I'm passing on. I hope it wasn't too much of a downer. I'm in a new age group now, and in theory I have a chance to rank higher. I don't have any expectations of coming in at the top, however. But if any of you want to pass on your own bits of wisdom, say how I can become a 5-hour marathoner, I'm listening. Now excuse me, I have to go brush my teeth. :-)