Missed Opportunities

Missed Opportunities
I've had a few:

• Meeting Mother Teresa- I was on a ship, traveling around the world for a semester (Semester at Sea Program).  We were supposed to arrive in Madras, India on a particular day but engine problems slowed us down dramatically.  We were a day late, getting in to the harbor and we missed her completely.  
• Meeting Nelson Mandela- I was on the same trip above.  We were in Cape Town, South Africa and it was just a few months before their first democratic election.  Tensions were high and the anxiety and anger of white people were  heavy on all of us.  I thought this place was going to explode in to a civil war any minute.
• The Iditarod- I booked a flight and hotel room for my nephew and me to see the start of the race in Anchorage, Alaska.  I was taking Clay out of school for a week so he could witness this compelling race of fortitude and stubborn tenacity.  We arrived on a Monday and had all sorts of activities planned for the next few days: ice fishing, dog sledding, ice sculpture contests, curling, Running With The Reindeer event, etc.  But the big event was going to be on our final day.  We would watch the start of the Iditarod.  It wasn't until two days before the race that we discovered that the race had been moved to Fairbanks and pushed back a day because of mild weather conditions.  We missed it completely and had to watch it on television in VA.
• Spending the night at the Durrell Zoo in Jersey (UK).- I have read several of Gerald Durrell's books about how he started a zoo in Jersey.  So I decided I wanted to go there and see for myself.  And the, when I discovered that I could spend the night there, I planned my entire trip around this golden opportunity.  I wanted to spend the night there and wander around, listening to the sounds of the nocturnal animals.  I was all set.  I had a small room with a shared bathroom set for September 23, 2018. I was to take a train from Cardiff, Wales to Poole, England and then jump on a ferry and cross the English Channel to get to Jersey. Then a storm set in and shut down the ferry system and I had to forfeit this opportunity.
• Not taking a year to study abroad- I was too chicken to travel that distance by myself.  was too comfortable with my small network of friends. I was too parochial when I was in college.
• Buying a Norman Rockwell sketch of the Colgate Toothpaste Ad- the infamous, original Colgate Toothpaste Ad was on sale for $6000. At the time, I was making $4000/year.  This drawing was way out of my league.  But I started to explore the option of a loan, something similar to a 10 year student loan.  That wasn't going to happen and just a few days after I surrendered the idea, he died peacefully in his sleep and the drawing was sold for $20,000 the next day.