What if?

I've been using my time this fine Saturday to clean up and re-organize my office space.  I have had work being done all morning on the kitchen cabinets so I've retreated upstairs to occupy my time.  I have managed to dust everything and go through some paperwork that consisted of a writing course I had taken many, many, years ago.  I have all the assignments from the entire course and I was organizing them to have it all in order.  It was a children's writing course by the Institue of Children's Literature out of West Redding, CT, that was a bonafide correspondence course.  Yes.  It was handled by regular mail - snail mail - with me sending in assignments to my personal instructor, Myra Johnson, and she sending them back to me with proper editor corrections and suggestions.
I only bring this up now because amist the organizing of this ancient relic of a writing course I found a letter from the Institute dated September 14, 2000.  It read:

In my recent note that accompanied your diploma, I mentioned that Myra Johnson had recommended you for our advanced writing program, Beyond the Basics: Creating and Selling Short Stories and Articles.
I'm sure you're proud of this additional distinction you've earned, and I'd like to offer you my personal congratulations.
We developed Beyond the Basics to enable selected students to maintain the discipline of writing regularly, and completing assignments for editorial review by a personal instructor, while working at an advanced level.
Other instructors have also recommended their most promising students for this advanced program, but the number of our faculty members who have been trained to teach it is small.  As a result enrollment is limited.  We must be selective.
Those recommended candidates who are accepted will be notified in writing within the next 30 days, and they will be offered the opportunity to participate in this advanced writing program.
Meanwhile, keep up the good work!

It was signed by the President of the Institute of Children's Literature.  If I tax my memory I believe I remember getting this letter.  I remember thinking that, yes, they would probably be more than happy to recommend me for an advanced course as long as I forwarded the tuition.  I think that is what I wanted to believe.  I also found envelopes from six different childrens magazines that had responded to my inquiries about topics they would be exploring in future issues.  I had done my homework about what they might be interested in me writing and sending to them.  I never responded to any of them.  
It is amazing how I can come so close and then turn away willing and comfortable to believe it can't be done.  I'd forgotten about all this.  It was more than 11 years ago.
I never get into what if's  but I have to admit, today, it went through my mind.
TT
And now I have more cleaning up to do.