MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
If you managed to get through this year without many regrets, congratulations. Some of us are not so lucky. We will start with Erin Kuester of Iowa City, Iowa. Her biggest regret begins last year with a missed opportunity.
ERIN KUESTER: This is the story of how I missed out on seeing Lizzo in concert for free.
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KUESTER: I had never heard of this artist before. So I looked up who they were. And I thought, it's not really my type of music. So I didn't end up going to the concert. And I don't know what I did instead. I probably just spent a boring Friday night at home. However, in 2019, Lizzo, who played our homecoming concert - they have exploded in popularity. Now if I wanted to see them in concert, I would have to pay a lot of money. Definitely my biggest regret of this year.
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BILL HARLEY: This is Bill Harley (ph). I live in Seekonk, Mass.
A couple of years ago at the end of my father's life, I wanted to have the deep discussion with him about what he'd seen and what he'd done. And, finally, one night, I was sitting at his kitchen table after dinner. And I thought, you know, this is it.
And so I said, so, Dad, with everything you're going through and what's happening now, what are you thinking about? And he said, what am I thinking about? I'm thinking about how the hell I'm gonna get over to that chair.
And that was it. That was our talk. And then he was gone. I got another chance and something like it when my father-in-law was ready to go. We talked about this and that for a while. And then I thought, I'm going to try this with another old man who'd been there for me for much of my life.
And I said, Willard (ph), I've been thinking about us. And he said, yes. And I thought, oh, great, here we go. And he said, did I ever tell you - he launched into a story he'd told me a thousand times. And then he fell asleep. And that was our last time together alone. I've got this regret. But it seems to me that's - regret that no one escapes.
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RACHEL MOORE: I'm Rachel Moore (ph) from Denver, Colo. And my biggest regret of 2019 was jumping onto the social media lambasting of a high school student who was involved in the face off with the Native American Nathan Phillips. I saw a white kid smirking at a Native American man and jumped to conclusions. And then I aired those conclusions on my social media feeds - with all of the context and parties involved, before attacking a minor on social media. Though I didn't tag him or name him directly, I did unleash my strong opinions about him before I had all of the facts.
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JUDY CARTER: I'm Judy Carter (ph). And I live in Venice Beach, Calif. I regret 75% of the purchases that I made on Amazon because I'd be able to buy a new car if I didn't feel the need to buy stuff like a cordless vacuum - how hard is it to plug the one I have in? - or the automatic pet feeder or the rechargeable electric sweater defuzzer.
KELLY: Just a few of the regrets of 2019. May we all have fewer of them in the next year. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.