Life's Lessons, The Hard Way

I spoke with a friend Max recently about life's lessons.

Actually, that wasn't what we were talking about, but it ended up touching on that.

He mentioned, as part of a conversation, "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'don't try to break up two cats fighting'?" Or something like that.

I hadn't. So he told me a story that went along the lines of this. This is my friend talking:

I was out in the yard as a child, and his Siamese cat and another cat were starting to go at it. The hair on their back was standing up, they were scrunched up like they were ready to pounce, here I came along, trying to get in between them to stop them from fighting.

My mom and my dad were in the garden and saw me going to get in between them and both came running out of the yard yelling "Stop! Stop!"
I came up behind the Siamese cat and reached down to soothe him. He didn't see me coming ... and when I touched him, I must have blacked out or something.

The next thing I knew, I had skin hanging off my arm and was on my way to the hosptial. They bandaged me up. But I learned my lesson about cats.

The highlighted part ("The next thing I knew...") is the part that tells you it was one of life's lessons. The hard way.
And that got us to thinking.

What are the phrases that, when spoken, usually mean you've learned one of life's lessons? The hard way?

I'll start with a few we came up with. But please, add your own in the comments.

Phrases that, when stated, mean someone has learned a Life's Lesson the hard way

• When I came to ...


• When the swelling went down ...


• When the bleeding stopped ...


• When they identified the body ...


• After I made bail ...


• When they finally took the cast off ...


• Once I got out of jail ...


• When I woke up ...

Any others?