A missed opportunity

I was thinking about missed opportunities today. Maybe because my husband lives by the "but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity" mantra.  This is a pretty nice mantra to live by sometimes, it can help you really appreciate an event.  Because, after all, said event is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  It can also be a pretty bad, especially when he uses it to get out of a previously made commitment.  It makes me feel guilty if I want to make him stand up to the commitment.  Because, after all, I'll be tearing him away from a once in a life time opportunity. 

As for me, I don't really believe in these once in a life time opportunities.  I believe they come along again.  I mean they don't come along in exactly the same reincarnation.  But you can make other cool things happen, even if you miss that one cool thing.  This helps me when I'm deciding how to treat Jbird's epic opportunities he just can't miss.* 

Except for once.  When I was a little girl my best friend offered me a ticket to go with her to Cirque du Soleil in the big circus tent.  But my mum said I had to go to the two day orchestra camp I was already signed up for.  She said it would be good for me.  

The two things were not comparable.  I was a third violin.  And I couldn't read music.  Or even barely play the violin.  I mean, I was really, really awful.  And I was so shy, I hadn't made any friends.  I spent the weekend lost and alone.  Truly, it was the worst camp I've ever been to.  Every meal/evening/other social time was like torture.  Every rehearsal was like torture. Torture.  Meanwhile, my friend went to the circus and had an amazing time.  

Since then, I've never been able to catch them doing their big show.  I've seen an off-shoot in the Civic theatre.  And listened to another friend (Hi Syls) decide she wanted to be a clown after seeing their big tent performance.  And then listened to her for weeks afterwards reliving how great the show was and how she got to meet the performers and how, oh boy, she was somehow going to become a clown.  Because it was so great.  She hasn't yet become a clown but I loved her zeal.  

To try and recreate what I missed, I even went to see the Warner Bros. circus.  Unfortunately it was winter and circuses are in tents (brrrr).  And the show wasn't all that well attended so it was missing some (a lot of) zing.  I bet Cirque du Soleil would have heated their tent.  From what I have heard, the Cirque du Soleil big show is leagues better than any other circus.

Boy.  That was really a once in a life time opportunity. 

*Jbird has such an amazing zeal for life, he really does.  It's inspirational.