Opportunities

Sheesh! Do you know that if you start typing “opportunity” too fast and you get your o’s and your p’s mixed up, the first four letters you type spell poop?  Maybe I should just forget about the blog post and go on to the next one that’s churning in my head.

OK . . O-P-P-O-rtunities (NOT pooprtunities!) . . I crack myself up sometimes.  This really is a serious post so forget that I started it off being silly.

Do you ever think about opportunities that have come your way?  I often think of things that have happened in my life and I think how just a little change or two would have caused me to miss out on opportunities.  I’ve talked about some of them on the blog before.  But almost everything that happens in our lives, we can miss an opportunity or seize an opportunity and make it happen to our benefit or to the benefit of others.  Life is kinda funny sometimes .. or kinda sad sometimes.

We’ve had a few cold snaps this winter but nothing terribly cold til Friday.  Friday morning it was fairly warm but a bit drizzly and by Friday afternoon, it was freezing.  This poor iris has tried so hard to bloom.  It isn’t going to make it.  It has missed an opportunity and it isn’t the fault of the iris.  Just like sometimes we miss opportunities due to circumstances totally out of our control.  Things just aren’t always meant to be.  Maybe if I had planted this iris where it got more full sun, it would have bloomed.  Maybe not.

I’m truly not concerned about this iris not getting to bloom but it did get me to thinking about opportunities.  Seems like when I was younger, I just blew through life, not thinking a whole lot about too much of anything.  Now that I’m . . let’s say more mature, I think more about the way things could’ve been; should’ve been.

This is a story I’ve written about previously.  When I think about it all, I’m just left thinking . . how did it all happen?  The fact that I had read the lady’s obituary and remembered it; that the dentist had an opening the next day . . the whole incident amazes me.  I’m so glad I acted on it and hope those quilts still bring the children comfort.  The story was included in the book, American Patchwork, True Stories from Quilters.

This is a story about eggs who never got the opportunity to do what they should have done (be served for breakfast!).  The real story is about a young man (Chad) who was about 15 at the time and never missed an opportunity to have a disagreement with his mother (me).

I wonder how many opportunities I’ve missed in my life.  I do try to be aware of when a door is opening and an opportunity may be presenting itself  but sometimes life is just too busy and I know I often miss a chance to brighten someone’s day or lend a helping hand to someone in need.  Maybe I need to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions! 🙂