You Get One Shot.

That's all you get, people, so listen up. You may disagree with me, in fact, most people do.

 You get the one perfect companion animal. You get the one perfect human love. You get the one great career. You get the one chance to make that leap into whatever it is that makes you who you shoulda, coulda, woulda be. You get the one perfect sweatshirt, the one awesome vehicle, the one sight your eyes will never, ever forget.

And, you reach a certain strange juxtaposition in time that allows you to finally recognize what all of those things were (or are), all at once. You start to tally up the score, to jot down notes on the curled parchment of your brain.

I'm not saying I don't believe in second chances. But, you have to understand, that is all they are. Second time around's. Women especially have a slight problem with this thought process. I happen to know that because I are one. And, if there is one creature on this planet that understands exactly how a woman thinks and why she do the things she do, it's another woman. Trust me on this one, take it to the bank. Ain't no other woman that will say, "Why, I just don't understand why she stays with that man," and mean it. We know. 

Some people instinctively know that one shot at something when they have it. And keep it for as long as they are able. After all, some things are organic in nature, and you cannot hang on to it or them until you breathe your last breath. But, seeing this one shot at something and treasuring it is the point here.

My dog will, on the average, live 15 years. Do I neglect it sometimes by not paying attention to it when I have the time? Yes. Do I not take it with me when I go somewhere, when I could? Yes. Could I have thrown that ball for an extra 15 minutes and made him or her happy? Yes. Will I remember all the times I could have, would have or should have when he has passed on?

Yes.

You could argue that everything in life runs in cycles and circles. Go ahead and argue, I won't deny that. But, would you recognize that "second time around" when you see it? Not a new chance with a new career or a new love or a new opportunity, but a shot at the old one? Probably not. Would you initiate it? Probably not. Why not?

Because, you can't have it.

You cannot dig up your old childhood pup and have it be whom you remember it to be, with apologies to Stephen King, who insists you can. You cannot go back to a former lover if they have passed on or moved on and you cannot find that old 1960 Corvette Stingray of yours and buy it back. Someone else is in your seat at work, if even your work still exists, and that one perfect day when the ocean waves were just so and the gulls sounded perfectly in tune with your universe, well, it  has rolled over into the big sea of time.

Yes, you get one shot at everything you want, desire, dream, aspire to and need. If you do not see it for what it is at the time, that is what regrets are made of. And, most of us have them.

Hold on to those one-shots if you can see them for what they are. Take those second opportunities, and recognize them for what they are. Don't fall into the mindset that just because these opportunities were not as good as the one-shot you no longer have, they are not good enough. There is good in every situation in life, if you will open your mind to finding it. Don't wake up each day regretting that you no longer have your one-shots, look for the new opportunities.

Let yourself be happy.