Time spent without focus and reason can be time squandered, but even seemingly wasted time can provide opportunities if we keep our minds and eyes open.
Often
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| Chinese Food in Minutes (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Years ago I would frequently pass by a small carry-out Chinese food establishment. Something about it tempted my curiosity. The restaurant was in a boxy building that had likely been built in the late fifties. Often when I passed the place I'd find an excuse not to stop and put off going until later. Over and over for over twenty years I passed that building to never once stop and order some carry-out. It was always later.
Then one Saturday I was driving down Lakewood Boulevard and noticed that Jack's Chinese Food was closed. Shut down for good. Now I would never be able to see what Jack's food was like. Now whenever I pass by that boxy building that housed Jack's for some fifty years, I pay a silent homage to a restaurant that I would never know.
As I think further I remember other places like that. Interesting stores that I'd often drive by while making a mental note to come back one day until eventually the store was gone out of business. Local attractions that I never made time to visit until I moved from the area lamenting not seeing places I'd meant to see one day. One day is here and then gone forever.
Finally I sadly realize that there are some people that I know like that. Old friends and acquaintances whom I never or rarely visit. I often think of them. I wonder if any of them think of me?
For each door that opens to us there is a new opportunity offered. Sometimes that opportunity is a door knock or a telephone call away. When you receive your call, will you answer?
What place did you miss the opportunity to visit and now you cannot visit? Do you keep in contact with many old friends? What is something you used to do often, but now no longer or rarely do?
