Maggie, after you wrote the sentence out without the comma after "after" I finally figured out where your confusion was coming from. If there were no comma, you'd be correct in thinking that it wasn't a sentence because there'd be no verb, just an adverbial clause beginning with "after." But there is. So it must be read like this:
After (adverb), I (subject) wished (verb) I'd watched, run, called... (compound object of the verb wished, tells what I wished)
In other words, it doesn't say "after I wished," it says I wished, afterward, that: I had watched you out of sight or (that I had) even run behind you, (and that I had) called your name, so I could picture you without this blur, but (since I didn't do any of those things) all I can recall of saying goodbye is...
If you substitute another adverb or adverb phrase like "later," or "afterward" or "forever after" or "after you'd gone" or "in retrospect" or "when it was too late" for "after" I think the rest of the construction and the verb tenses will come clear to you.
Hope that helps.
Carol
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