Indeed, hindsight is blindingly clear - how many times at any stage in life have we said to ourselves "if only I had known then what I know now, I would have done things differently"? I sincerely hope that when it comes to how I have made the big decisions in my life, that I will not go down that particular path of torture. However there are definitely things I wish I had done before becoming a mother, and they my friends, are outlined below:
1. Gone Skydiving
I really don't think I would do this now, or else I will wait until the kids have left home. The reason this features as something I am reluctant to do now (rather than swim in a cage with sharks) is that the margin for error leaves absolutely no hope of survival. 'Chute doesn't open? No recovering from that!
2. Climbed Mt Everest
I so so so want to do this and wish I had focused on this dream a bit more when I was sans kids. For the same reasons I have with regards to Sky-Diving, the margin for error is unforgiving. In addition, this also falls into 'how I would have spent (or saved) my money differently" camp. I still have this as a goal but think that given the prep work involved, the money involved and the time involved away from the children, it will also be more likely to happen when they have left home.
3. Spent my money more wisely
Having said that, there isn't one night out that I didn't regret!
4. Saved my money more wisely
Surely I could have saved for a deposit for a flat and lived in it before marrying and thus having a nice little nest egg! Ah, hindsight, you cursed thing!
5. Spent holidays overseas doing volunteer work
I actually don't know what I was busy doing before I had children! (but I suspect this is a common thought amongst those of us who are caring for dependents be they children or parents). But I would have loved to have spent a month in Vietnam helping build villages, live frugally and learning to cook like a master with coriander and chilli!
6. Had my teeth whitened and fixed
This is partly vanity, partly a genuine dental wish. I haven't seen a dentist for over 10 years, and I KNOW there are holes and chips that need fixing. Some have developed since having children (apparently this can happen in that your teeth can get soft as a result of becoming a mother) but some could have clearly been fixed pre-children. Having them whitened is vain I suppose, but this also falls into the 'wish I had spent my money more wisely' camp, in that all the friends I have who have had it done look fantastic and feel fantastic, and as every mother knows, there is no price you can put on that!
7. Gone to a major sporting even overseas - there is nothing like being in another country during a major sporting event. Personally, I should have hired a chalet in France for a couple of months whilst the Tour de France was on (thanks to my wiley investments) and had a completely awesome european summer sipping France's finest and eating stinky cheese. Bon!
Clearly I have had to put some things on the back-burner, but I am also very very aware that there has been another world I am now a part of that has opened up some pretty amazing experiences for me. Children's birthday parties! The politics of gift-giving! How to avoid being pigeon-holed into being either a yummy mummy or a slummy mummy! (I am neither, I am simply me). And I am sure there are some other experiences to come that I would never have been privvy to in my child-less state (reliving puberty through your children! where to put the shotgun when the first boyfriends start visiting!).
What have been some of the things you would have done before children?
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