text: John, who turned 33 today, had always regretted several of his life decisions. If he could go back in time and do things differently, he would be an innovator, a person who mattered, and a person with money! He fell asleep while watching "Billy Madison" late one night. He awakened in his childhood twin bed, the size of a 10-year-old, with full awareness of his adult self. "Wake up, Johnny; you're going to be late for school!" his mother yelled downstairs. He rolled out of bed in his SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas, stared in the mirror, and couldn't believe how small he was. When he looked at his alarm clock, it said April 2000. This was the last thing he thought about before falling asleep, so he assumed it was some sort of supernatural wish granted to him. He slapped himself in front of the mirror to make sure he wasn't dreaming, but that only startled the dog, so he stopped. He remembered how much she dreaded going to school when he boarded the bus that day. There were bullies, teachers, and awful school lunch pizza; pizza should not be sweating. But Johnny walked into school with the confidence of an adult. He was an average adult man with average intelligence; certainly, he should be able to fly through his studies; why couldn't he skip a grade or two while he was here? Johnny's mind wandered as he sat in his old 5th-grade seat, and he wondered, "What can I do to persuade my teacher to let me skip a grade? Is it possible for me to just take an exam or something?" "What are the dimensions of a rectangle with a perimeter of 28 units and a length that is twice its width? Johnny, you haven't answered a question yet; what are your thoughts?" Johnny was taken aback; he didn't remember math being this hard! He went into the day expecting to be a genius, but at the end of the day, he had made a fool of himself because his adult self had not done his homework, had not gone over the math problems, and had spent most of the day daydreaming about skipping grades. "This was an opportunity to change his life for the better; what could he do differently?" he thought as he went to bed that night at 8 p.m. As he pondered this question, he realized that by devoting himself to studies, he might be able to change his life. So Johnny cracked some books, and his grades improved for a week or two, making his teachers and parents proud. They weren't willing to let him skip any grades, but he felt smarter, which boosted his confidence. He was studying one night when he came upon his old Nintendo 64. He remembered how much he enjoyed the Legend of Zelda, Mario Party 2, Pokemon Stadium, and around ten or fifteen more games when he was ten. So, he decided to play, and play, and play some more. Before he knew it, his grades had dropped back to the mean, and he was rethinking his options. "You know what, self, skipping classes and being the smartest guy in the room is no guarantee that you'll be successful and rich; maybe I should focus on my friend network; maybe if I befriend the smart students, we can invent Facebook, Virtual reality, or maybe 5G," he thought to himself if he only knew what 5G was. So he set out to make new friends, the nerd boys and girls he recalled being successful on social media as an adult. As he attempted to form a new friend group, he remembered how difficult it was to make new friends. The friends he already had wanted to hang out with him all the time, and it was difficult to say no. Plus, he only had a little in common with the smart kids, so it never worked. However, by the end of fifth grade, he was back where he started, if not a little worse off; average grades, average friends, and on his path to an average life. Now in sixth grade, as the year 2000 turned into 2001, Johnny was looking for a way to change his life from what it was. He asked, "What advantages do I have being from the future?" Then it occurred to him, why don't I try to prevent 9/11 from happening? He told his parents that he had to report a crime. He needed to speak with someone in the FBI's anti-terrorism division right away, ideally someone in command, not an underling. His parents, of course, did not believe him. He didn't want to reveal that he was from the future, so he said he had heard some suspicious men talking. But his story began to unravel when they pressed him with more questions. Because his parents refused to let him go to the authorities, he decided to walk to the police station himself. The police genuinely listened to him and took notes, but Johnny was only 10 years old when 9/11 occurred. He couldn't recall important details such as the airlines utilized, flight numbers, flight origins, or the identity of a single hijacker, "I think it was like Muhammad Atta; would it be difficult to investigate all the people named Mohammed?" Osama bin Laden came to mind, although he was already on the terrorist watch list. He knew the date, which buildings the planes flew into, and that it happened about 8:40 a.m. His parents had to pick him up that night and were upset that he had gone against their wishes. Worse, when September 11th arrived, the attacks unfolded just as they had the first time. Johnny drifted through the next few years of school, feeling helpless. With hindsight, things were a little easier, but everything happened precisely as it had before. As the end of high school came, he realized that college was where everything started to go wrong for him. So he decided to forego it totally and concentrate on himself. However, Johnny, going by John now, found that the opposite of a bad experience isn't necessarily better. He was a 23-year-old convenience store clerk, working 40 hours a week and barely making ends meet. When his car broke down in the middle of a rainstorm one afternoon, everything came to a head. As he sat in the driver's seat of his broken-down car, he realized that nothing would change; he was only 10 years away from being that same shattered person incapable of happiness. Suddenly, there was a knock on the window. "Do you need any help?" Emma was the most beautiful woman he had ever met, both on the inside and out. She not only waited with him while the tow truck was delayed, but she was also one of those people who was really easy to talk to; she was a fantastic listener and knew what it was like to battle with confidence and social awkwardness. This was a major game changer; meeting Emma was the first event that caused his life to deviate from its predestined path. They became friends, but John desired more. Emma improved his life in almost every way over the next five years; they became gym buddies, improving his physical and mental health. They would try new things like ax throwing, escape rooms, and hot air balloon racing. At the end of the day, Emma was a positive person in his life, so positive that it was contagious. John understood that life was a game of risk and reward; he wanted to be in a relationship with Emma beyond friendship, but he was always hesitant to go there for fear of rejection, making things awkward, or making her dislike him. One night, he threw caution to the wind and told Emma how he felt. Unfortunately, she did not share the sentiments and wanted to stay only friends. They remained friends, but things were never the same after that. For the next few years, John kept all of Emma's positive qualities in his life; nonetheless, he always wondered what he could have done better; not waiting five years to tell her how he felt; being a love interest rather than a friend; or being more confident and assertive? He pondered if things might have turned out differently if they had met for the first time now, rather than five years ago. It was the eve of his 33rd birthday, and he was in a better place than his previous self; he was more physically fit, had lived experience, and even had a more positive disposition. However, as he reflected on his second life, he realized that Emma was responsible for most of the positive improvements. He awoke the next day in his previous life, a little chubbier, in his old apartment, with his old job, and with "Billy Madison" credits rolling, but he remembered everything about his second chance. The first thing he thought of was Emma; they had never met in this life; was this a second chance to get things right? First, he got his life in order, got in shape, quit his job and got a more fulfilling one, and started to make more positive changes. After a month, he set out to find Emma. He used every tool at his disposal, including social media, recollections about her life, and, most importantly, the type of person she was attracted to. John joined a hot air balloon racing group that he remembered she loved. She was there on the first day; she was exactly the same. He took a deep breath as he approached to introduce himself; this time, he had to get it right. There were no do-overs.