Losing Something I Didn't Have

I always wanted to serve in the Peace Corps. But it wasn't in the cards. I got married too early to do it on my own, and my husband's career is too important for him to take a few years off to go with me. I knew, without a doubt, I would never sign-up. So how did I feel when I was informed during my debriefing for a government internship that I was not permitted to join the Corps for 10 years? I had been tricked into losing an opportunity I didn't have! I was very upset. If I had known up-front, I would have taken the internship anyway. After all, I was never actually going to join the Peace Corps. But what happened was completely different. Like the difference between a 10-yr-old boy hearing he may possibly get a puppy at some unspecified future time and hearing he will never get a puppy. Same outcome, different result.