Bite-sized Episode: Edith Piaf and Regrets

Lynne Thompson
thompsonlynne92@gmail.com

Solo Edith Piaf and Regrets


Thu, Jul 14, 2022 . 9:54 PM

8:34

Owner: Lynne Thompson
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
regrets, madrid, live, life, memories, edith, swept, city, english, suits, love, petite woman, stayed, spaniard, husband, working, cold water, hot bath, longer, wonderful
SPEAKERS
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Hello and welcome to the Storied Human  that was Edith Piaf singing Non Je ne Regrette Rien. She was, you probably heard of her. She also sang La Vie En Rose. And she was a sad figure, little petite woman had a very rough, beginning in life, very rough childhood. Her mother was a prostitute. And she was basically raised on the streets. Because she was so slight and so petite, they called her the little sparrow. I've always loved hearing about her. And I love that song. And it's a great intro to what I want to talk about today, which is regrets. And, you know, we all have them, they're very much part of, you know, if you're alive, you probably have regrets. And the longer you're alive like me, the more regrets you might have. And I'm just sort of spending some time lately, looking back on the regrets I do have and trying to sort of release myself from revisiting those regrets. So I thought maybe it would be a good time to share that with you guys. And I'm considering doing a mini workshop for free. I'm working on the syllabus now. To help people who would like to stop visiting their regrets. I know I do return two things, maybe a little too much. I'm too focused on the past sometimes. So if that's you in any way, you might be interested in it. It'll be I'll be doing it in August. And I'll I'll give you the date when I have it. I wrote an article about this very subject on medium. The title is, Do you have regrets? I know I do. And I've been remembering a lot of times in my past lately, lots of memories. And part of it is we tell my son things that happen. And my daughter and my husband and I get started reminiscing. We have a lot to tell, because you know we're not young. And I'm sure whatever age you are, you have some regrets. It's just a human thing. The older you are, the more regrets you may have. That's also logical. My biggest regret when I think about it is not stepping up when I had the chance not being kind and also I regret being too practical, and making decisions based on fear. An example is when I moved to Madrid in 1981. In the fall after I graduated from college to live and teach English. I had a friend from college there who helped me get settled, and I signed up to teach at a school. They sent me all over Madrid to homes and businesses to teach English. I lived in a tiny room in a hostel in the center of old Madrid. I only had a sink with cold water in the room. The Bath Shower, the bath combo shower, was down the hall, I washed my body and my hair every night in the cold water sink because it costs money to take a hot bath. And I had a very low budget. My one splurge was Saturday when I got a long hot bath. I walked everywhere and often took breaks, sitting in the warm sun, enjoying a Limone which is a wonderful, less sweet version of Sprite. It's sort of like bitter lemon if you've ever had that. I was in heaven. But a few months later, I went home for Christmas and decided not to go back to Spain. I felt the pressure to start my life quote unquote, and get things like a job and health benefits. I feel now I should have stayed longer in Madrid. I felt so alive there and met wonderful people. I discovered that I love to tutor English. The rhythm of the city suited me and what I mean by that is people
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get up late which is so me. They eat late and they eat lightly for dinner. They have a big meal at lunch. A lot of people still lived this way they really did back then. And then they socialize and walk around and have tiny drinks at night and and small a small dinner. It's just it just suits me. Don't get me wrong, things did work out. And I've been lucky enough to enjoy a career in tech writing, which has paid pretty well and gave me the flexibility as I raised my kids. But then I finally got back there to Madrid in 2016 and I was able to show my husband daughter and son everything I realized it still was so special for me. I connected with that country in that city. Spanish culture is just perfect for me. It wasn't just that I had been young and excited to be there. It really was a special place for me, even 35 years later, and the trip we had as a family was so wonderful. My kids got to meet my college friend who married a Spaniard and still lives there. We got to go all over the city and really enjoy it. I'm so happy I was able to share it with them. They fell in love with Madrid too. I wondered what my life would have been like, had I stayed? What would I have ended up doing? Where would I have worked? Of course, I wouldn't have met my husband, I wouldn't have my kids so that would suck. I do have lots of other smaller regrets. Most have to do with things I didn't do. Only summer about things I did do. It's important I think to acknowledge them and move on from them. I tend to live in my memories and lament over regrets. That is really useless and a waste of time. I'm working on just being grateful to have the life I have now and glad that I got here. No matter the path. Perhaps we should listen to Edith Piaf and regret nothing to English words to the to her song Our know nothing of nothing. No, I regret nothing. Not the good things that have been done to me nor the bad things. It's all the same to me. It's paid for swept away forgotten. I don't care about the past. With my memories. I lit the fire. My troubles my pleasures. I don't need them anymore. swept away my past loves. With their tremors swept away for always I start again from zero. No, nothing of nothing. No, I regret nothing. Not the good things that have been done to me. Nor the bad things. It's all the same to me. No, nothing of nothing. No, I regret nothing. Because my life my joys. Today it begins with you. Okay, so she was a little melodramatic, but it's a really, it's a really good ballad. And it's a really strong message that she doesn't regret anything. I don't know if we'll ever be there. I mean, I'll always regret regret things. And I think my main message is, we don't want to sit there. You know, we just don't want to stay there. We want to we want to touch upon regrets slightly. If we can learn from them great. But we do need to live more fully and not focus on them. And I do tend to focus on the past. So if this resonates with anyone great. And I'll see you back here at the Storied Human Thank you.
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