I would make a different set of choices at important junctures in my life. I don’t think I would ever have left New England, for one thing. And I wouldn’t have got involved with that one guy, for another. (If I hadn’t got involved with him, maybe I wouldn’t have been so eager to leave.) I would have gone for my Ph.D. while I was already on the academic track, and then I’d have had a different career. For so many things, this is true: It seemed like a good idea at the time. (This is why they say “Youth is wasted on the young.”)