What are you wistful you will never do, be or see?

[CoddlingMolly]

It's hard to explain what I mean but I'll try!

One relating to the future...I feel sad that I won't be around when humans inevitably connect with some other form of life or some incredible space discovery.

There's one regret I have about the past...That I wasn't around for the hippie era.

One that's kind of odd and I can't put my finger on why I feel like this but...I was a teenager in the late 90s/early 2000s and I always had this weird regret that I couldn't ever experience being an American high school kid or going to an American college. Nit sure why but that's really strongly connected to that era and my age then.

Just wondering whether anyone else gets these wistful thoughts!

Me too.. love to have gone to Russia

I have nerve damage in my foot and ankle from an injury, so need a stick to walk with, and even then it's tiring, I can't walk far, and need to keep stopping for rests. I'll never again be able to go for long walks in the country, or for coastal walks etc. But DH and I will go places in the car, find a place to park, and enjoy the view.

I regret that I'll never be multilingual and will never progress much beyond toddler level at any languages I start learning now.

I'm a little sad that I'll never be a household name because of something remarkable I've done or achieved. I know fame is a mixed blessing and I know I don't have much talent for anything although I'm competent at doing everyday things, but still.

I do look back and wish I'd been able to spend more time with my children when they were very small instead of outsourcing most of their care.

But I made the decisions I made, and any of the Alternative Me scenarios might have envied me my particular career, my family, and my anonymity.

I never got to give my children a decent father and a happy childhood of two parents who loved each other and continued to live in the same house. A proper family full of nice people.

I met my abusive ex when I was 16, we married at 24 and I left him at 26. He isolated me from my friends so I never had the experience of going for a girls night out, weekend away with girlfriends, going to a club or rave when I was in my late teens early 20s.

I made up for it in my late 20s and 30s and did things a lot of people will never experience, but I always feel a bit sad and annoyed that he/I stole my latter teenage and early 20s when you would be single and carefree. It was also in the 90s I'd have been that age and I really wanted to go to a proper rave and Ibiza with my friends.

Maybe i have missed the point id love to live in the 1920s and 30s but i cant.
So I'll enjoy life now.

I know this pain too.

There's bears and wolves where I live. I've not seen them myself but the local facebook group reports the occasional spotting of wolves (most recently near my friend's house about a month ago) and a bear was wandering around town last year, and a couple of years ago someone out in the forest with their dog (off-leash) had a very close encounter with a bear, who attacked the dog. The dog survived though thankfully, and the man was only threatened by the bear and then it ran off when he shouted.

That I'll never have a daughter. I have a tricky relationship with my own mother and would have loved to have a chance to try to do it "right" with a daughter of my own. I love my DSs hugely so I have no regrets, it's more the wistful thought of what it might have been like to be a mother to a daughter.

I only did when they performed for Ahmet Ertigun, and I tried to get tickets but couldn't. I wish I'd tried harder. I've seen Robert Plant, and Jason Bonham (with several bands), and I've seen Coverdale / Page. The latter was good enough for Plant to describe it as David Coverversion 🤣

That I can't ever be in a relationship with a really lovely, much younger man I know who would be perfect for me if it wasn't for the age gap. He's gorgeous, we just 'get' each other and we can talk about anything. I wouldn't go there, and anyway I have a very nice DH already and couldn't ever leave him. But it doesn't stop me daydreaming.

That I'll never be a Victorian plant hunting in the Himalayas and bringing some Rhodedendron back for Mama and Papa to admire. I wouldnt mind discovering something archeologically significant, either.
Same for discovering new species, ideally something orchid-like on a tepui in Venezuela rather than some moss-thing growing on next doors septic tank.

This resonates with me though it's a different dynamic not DH but extended family missing. Nobody else gives a fig and our children don't know their many cousins. Just a bit of bad luck with siblings not wanting to know being utterly selfish. I feel sad they won't have that family feeling with aunties and uncles. Literally nobody is bothered. We try to make it nice for the kids and what they don't know they won't miss.

Yep, this!

I’ll never be a mum 😢 I try not to dwell on it

I always assumed I would spend some time living and working in New York, and I never did. It's not going to happen now and I am sometimes wistful about that.

On the plus side, unlike poor @ClawdeenWolf, I did have lots of random sex when my body was banging! No regrets!

FYI for all the people who are saying about visiting Russia, it is actually still allowed for UK citizens by both governments and by all accounts straightforward and safe. I haven't been myself but have a couple of British friends who have visited within the last year (either because they have Russian partners or for work reasons). It took them a week to get a tourist visa, and on arrival they were taken to the 'side room' along with some other tourists of various nationalities to be asked about their itinerary before being allowed to enter, but they said it was just a normal chat and nothing intimidating. Because of sanctions it's not possible to fly direct from the UK, and you most likely wouldn't be able to get insurance because there's an FCDO advisory against all travel, mostly in case of the war suddenly escalating without warning. But on a day to day basis the risks are apparently quite minimal. I am strongly considering visiting Moscow myself - the biggest issue for me is that it's a really long flight from where I live and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get enough time off, otherwise I'd have no reservations.

Of course many people might be against visiting for moral reasons given current circumstances and that's completely understandable, but I know a lot of people are under the impression either that travel is banned completely, or that you'll be whisked away to some Siberian prison as soon as you show your UK passport at the border. So, just letting you know it's still possible.

I will never get to visit the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree or slide down the slippery-slip.

I've always loved those TV programmes where members of the public are taken back in time and live for a while in an historical setting. I would love to have taken part in one, as a pioneer in the USA (absolutely loved reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child!)

To go on a river cruise on the Danube with my dad.

AskNotForWhomTheBellCurves Interesting, thank you for this info. You touch on one of the big issues for me about visiting Russia - moral/ethical considerations.

I'm fortunate that after years of wanting to go, DH and I visited St Petersburg about 5 years ago. It was an amazing experience and one we'd love to repeat.

For us, it's not so much can we go but should we go. Making a huge and fascinating country a no go zone for many reasons and many people is yet another of Putin's atrocious acts, albeit one of the less pressing issues.

I will never get to visit the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree or slide down the slippery-slip.

Love MoonFace and the gang.

The first thing that popped into my head is rather trivial, I'm a tiny bit wistful that I'll never run my fingers through DHs hair again, he had lovely hair but there's very little of it left! Sadly it looks like our DSs will go the same way so I'll be wistful about their lovely hair eventually too.

I'm wistful about never having a smallholding with ponies and livestock and lots of fruit and veg. I married the wrong man for that ( luckily he's Mr Right in other ways). I spent a lot of time with horses in my youth so I'm aware of how much work it is especially in winter so I wasn't prepared to do it on my own and it's not something DH would want to spend his retirement doing.

Fly on Concorde.