In this talk we present lessons learned, good ideas, and thoughts on the future, with an eye toward informing junior researchers about the realities and opportunities of a long-running project. We highlight some notions from the original paper that stood the test of time, some that were not as prescient, and some that became more relevant as industrial practice advanced. We place the work in context, highlighting perceptions from software engineering and evolutionary computing, then and now, of how program repair could possibly work. We discuss the importance of measurable benchmarks and reproducible research in bringing scientists together and advancing the area. We give our thoughts on the role of quality requirements and properties in program repair. From testing to metrics to scalability to human factors to technology transfer, software repair touches many aspects of software engineering, and we hope a behind-the-scenes exploration of some of our struggles and successes may benefit researchers pursuing new projects.