📖 Appalachian Regrets: One Writer’s Collection of What Old Men Wished They’d Done Differently

A reflective piece shared across regional social media explores the quiet regrets of Appalachian elders-stories passed down through generations that reveal what mattered most when life was nearly over. For readers in mountain communities, these accounts offer a window into the values and unspoken struggles that shaped the men who built the region.

💭 Stories Written Down on Seed Catalog Pages

The post centers on a writer’s lifelong practice of recording the deepest regrets of older men in his community. Since his youth, he documented what each elder said he would do over if given the chance-not the obvious wishes, but the quiet, often surprising ones. A blacksmith who never passed on his trade. A deacon respected across four ridges who never learned to read. A man who dreamed of the ocean his whole life but never left the county. Two brothers estranged for thirty-one years over a property line. A fiddler. A veteran who returned from war and never spoke of it. A couple married forty-seven years without a single photograph together. ✨

🏔️ The Father’s Regret-and How It Differed

The writer’s own father shared his biggest regret on the front porch two weeks before he died-a moment the writer notes was extraordinary, because the men of their holler simply did not speak of such things. What made his father’s regret different, the writer explains, is that his father was the only one of all those men who did not let it remain a regret. He took action. 💔

📝 Ninety-Three Ways, With the “Why” Restored

The writer’s grandfather Wendell documented how things were done but never explained why. Drawing from everything those old men left behind, the writer compiled ninety-three of their old ways-and crucially, restored the reasoning behind each one. This collection attempts to preserve not just the knowledge of Appalachian grandfathers, but the wisdom and purpose that gave it meaning. 🧭

❓ A Question for the Community

The post closes with an invitation: readers are asked to share their own answer to the central question-what is the one thing you would do over? The piece suggests that in a region where regret was traditionally kept private, there may be value in speaking it aloud, and perhaps in learning from the choices of those who came before. 🤝