wheni's, theni's & wishi's

Its been awhile since there's been a post here.  Many observations made but not recorded, many changes occurred but not chronicled, many trips made, but not logged.
Could it be that what once was a goal to jot down a few thoughts once a week or so, is now just a by-gone wish that cannot be revived?  Maybe not.
Looking back over past blogs, Frank recalled some of the events that made him write his thoughts.  Mostly happy events, but some thoughts recorded were the product of, at best, frustrating occurrences.  But, looking back, most of those frustrations have drifted off as memories, and not really a factor in everyday life.  Every once in a while something will happen that will remind him of those times, but for the most part, Frank just lets those items stay in the deep grey matter of the mind.
A thought that's been swirling around for some time is wheni's, theni's and wishi's.  Everyone knows what these are if you just take a moment to think about it.  How many times have we said, "When I ___________, then I ___________."
Some examples would be, "when I grow up, (then) I want to be a doctor," "when I turn 16, then I will get my license," or the ever-popular, "when I get time, then I will spend more time with the family."
It seems as though we're always chasing something, we're wanting something we don't have, we're trying to get to that point where we can do the fun stuff, but it is just beyond our grasp.
Something even more ironic is, on those occasions when we do reach those goals, we use the "wishi." We've all heard, or some variation of, "when I _________, I wish I had ____________." Some popular examples would be, after getting the college degree, you hear, "when I graduated from high school, I wish I had gone in the military," or maybe, "when we first got married, I wish we had traveled more," or, the one heard time and again, "when the kids were younger, I wish I had spent more time with them."
Now, don't get me wrong, this is not some far-fetched indictment on setting goals or chasing dreams.  This is not to insinuate that we should all be content and never try to achieve more, but rather a suggestion we should put just as much effort into enjoying the moments we're living in as we do looking backwards.  Maybe we should realize that life doesn't come with an instruction manual and we're going to make mistakes and have regrets. But, those same mistakes and regrets should help to remind us that what is happening today is what memories will be made of in the years to come.  The regrets of yesterday should not result in today not being a happy memory of tomorrow.
Thoughts?