Andrew's Stories

At 84, the world looks smaller. Life is quieter, and the noise that once filled the days—ambition, expectation, even fear—has faded. I sit here with few possessions. A chair, a bed, a handful of books, and the memories. There was a time when I thought I needed more. A bigger house, more money, more success. Now, I see those things for what they were—temporary distractions.

Should I have done things differently? That’s the question, isn’t it? I think about it often. Not with regret, but with the kind of clarity that comes when you’ve lived through the storms and come out the other side. I think of the people I loved, and the ones I let go of too soon. There are a few faces that haunt me still. I wonder what my life would’ve been like if I’d stayed close to them, or if I’d been braver in telling them how much they meant.

I spent too much time chasing things that don’t matter now. Money slips through your fingers, and success fades faster than you expect. But time, once it’s gone, never comes back. Perhaps I should have spent more of it with the ones who loved me, should’ve lingered longer in the moments that mattered.

But there’s no sense in wishing for the past to change. I am here, with what I have, and maybe that’s enough. Life is what it is, and I can’t say it’s been unkind to me. If I have any regret, it’s that I didn’t realise sooner what truly mattered. But then again, who ever does? You live, you learn, and eventually, you let it all go. That’s the way of it.