The micro manager's sister phoned a couple of nights ago. The sister is 83 and not doing very well. She has Parkinson's and a couple of other health issues. She lives in a complex where she has her own small suite and has all her meals in the complex.
The micro manager does most of the talking as the sister is somewhat slow in speech and thought.
One thing that bothered the micro manager was that her sister constantly commented that , "she had made so many mistakes"
Now I happen to think that my sister-in-law was a pretty awesome lady. She came here on her own with a brother and sister to look after. She had four children. One's a lawyer, two are teachers and one a supervisor for a large drug company. She's successful financially and has travelled and wintered in Arizona for 20 years. Not bad I'd say.
The micro manager didn't want to quiz about the mistakes but tried to get her to think more positively.
The regrets issue got me thinking about the situation. I guess some people look back on their lives and are not satisfied and regret things. Some people become preoccupied with the issue. They think about every mistake they made and worry about it. They use up a lot of "I shuddas."
Now I've made a mistake or two in my life. I was the typical young male who thought he was invincible and did some pretty dumb things. Alcohol fueled some of this rash behavior.
I made mistakes in my university courses. I can look back and see how easy it would have been to get better mark in high school. The goals I set were far too low.
I can look back and see things in my teaching career that I wish I could take back and do over. There were better ways to deal with a certain student. There were better ways to teach something.
I can see things that I could have done better in raising my kids.
However, what is past is over. It is was what it is. You cannot redo things. The majority of us do not dwell on this aspect of our life. I have a good pair of rose colored glasses. I usually think of only good happy things. Former students see me and some apologize for poor behavior. I don't remember their poor behavior.
However, it's sad when someone gets in a condition when they focus on their past mistakes. I hope this stage of my sister-in-laws's life changes for the better.
