I'd like to say I've taken advantage of every great opportunity that's come along — but that wouldn't be true.  Not for me and not for you either, I would guess.  Sometimes the opportunity came and we didn't recognize it until later.  Sometimes we just weren't in a position to take it.  Sometimes we were just too indecisive and the window closed.  But nobody gets them all.

I remember my dad talking about when they first subdivided Bill's Island.  They sold waterfront lots for $26.  Sounds pretty cheap, doesn't it?  Well, back in the '50's $26 was a lot of cash, and my dad didn't have it.  He was just starting a family and a business, and it didn't fit.  It's unfortunate, too, because today those lots sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  But hey, if you don't have it, you don't have it.

But at the end of the day. there are always those opportunities that come along that we can't or don't or won't take advantage of.  Sometimes it works out for our best good.  Other times we kick ourselves for a long time for not jumping on board (just like my dad did over Bill's island.)  But what I know about opportunities is that they come along from time to time.  The really good ones don't come along all that often, but there will be others.  Take the ones you can, leave the ones you can't, and prepare yourself in all things to grab the next one.  Because after all, all you can do is be prepared when opportunity knocks.