“If I wonder if I’d be better off without her?”
“No, I didn’t mean –“
“No, it’s all right. It’s an an important question. Because you’ll have bad times. But that will always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”
“And you don’t regret….meeting your wife.”
“Why? Because of the pain I feel now? No. I’ve got regrets, Will, but I don’t regret a single day I spent with her.”
“So….like, when did you know what she was the One for you?”
“October 21st, 1975.”
“Jesus Christ, you know the day?”
“Oh, yeah. Game six of the world series. Biggest game in Red Sox history. My friends and I slept out all night to get tickets. Day of the game, we”re sittin’ in a bar, and in walks this girl. Amazing game. Bottom of the eighth, Carbo ties it up with 6-6. Went to 12. Bottom of the 12th, in steps Carlton Fisk. Old Pudge. Steps up to the plate — he’s got that weird stance — and then, BOOM! He clocks it, hard, foul ball up the left field line! — 35,000 people on their feet, Fisk is yelling at the ball like a madman, and 35,000 fans, they rush the field —“
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAD TICKETS TO THAT GAME!!! DID YOU RUSH THE FIELD?!?!?”
“What? No. I wasn’t there. I was in a bar, having drinks with my future wife.”
“YOU MISSED PUDGE FISK’S HOME RUN TO HAVE SOME DRINK WITH A GIRL?!”
“You should have seen her. She was a stunner.”
“I DON’T CARE IF SHE WAS HELEN OF TROY — your friends let you GET AWAY WITH THIS?!”
“They had to. Just slid my ticket across the tablet, and said — sorry guys, I gotta see about a girl.”
“You gotta see about a girl?! You’re kiddin’ me.”
“No, I’m not kiddin’ you. That’s why I’m not talkin’ right now about some girl I saw at a bar twenty years ago and how I always regretted never talkin’ to her. I don’t regret the 18 years I was married to Nancy. I don’t regret the six years I had to give up counseling when she got sick, and I don’t regret the last years when she got REALLY sick. And I sure as hell don’t regret missin’ a damn game. That’s regret.”
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