If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now

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This husband and I…

Went to breakfast at McDonald’s…a newer McDonald’s…no play area…limited seating…set up for to-go and delivery type orders…

Sat at one of the few tables…took in the decor…sleek…modern…yet someone had hung red paper garlands and set heart balloons out in honor of upcoming Valentine’s Day…

Then what to my wondering eyes do I see?…candy canes…little candy canes in the shape of a Christmas tree stuck on the wall by the bathroom…seemed odd…candy canes still out in February…

Until one took a closer look…those candy cane stickers…most likely picked up at some dollar store…were stuck…like really stuck…like pull too hard you rip off the wallpaper stuck…like gonna need some fancy tool to take off the backing stuck…

And Egg Mcmuffin eating me felt a kinship with that McDonald’s wall decorator…knew all about those little regrets…the wish I handn’ts…

Wish I hadn’t laid out in the sun in high school, used baby oil, used the tanning bed…rolled my eyes, goofed around, stuck that paper clip in the outlet in junior high science…

Those things that had repercussions…unexpected repercussions…unanticipated repercussions…immediate repercussions or those that rear their ugly heads 50 years later…

And so it is…in life…if we only knew then…what we know now…but would it have stopped us anyway?…

Probably not…
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And this husband of mine…agrees…