A lot of great insights in this thread. And one thing I'm noticing: we always think the grass is greener on the other guy's turf:
"I wish I had a kind husband and sweet baby like Mary."
"I wish I had a good-paying, responsible position like Jane."
"I wish I had a family that was 'normal' like Sally's."
There are NO non-dysfunctional families! Not unless you're living with Ward and June Cleaver as parents .... and they only exist on late-night reruns.
I made such a shambles of my life, I've often thought of writing a novel - I certainly have had my share of "colorful" characters enter and exit my life!
So I can keep kicking myself, or I can learn from my mistakes. My life is probably no more or no less messed up than most people's.
I think life is just one big learning process. I repeated the same mistake to the point that I thought I was truly NUTS. Yeah, I probably was to some degree. But I learned the hard way. We can't regret yesterday and we can't fear tomorrow. Just got to do the best with what we've got today.