Following The Directions

I remember a test given by one of my high school teachers, probably Mr. Harris. He was trying to emphasize the importance of reading and following the directions. He handed out the test, said, "Read the directions and begin." The first direction was: "Write your name in the upper right corner." The second direction was: "Turn your test in."
Many in the class did not understand when a few walked forward and put their papers on the teacher's desk only a minute or two after beginning. Those students got an A.

I've always been one to follow the directions. In so many instances you have to follow directions in the order they are given: sewing, cooking, putting together IKEA furniture; if not, the end product is not what was expected. But sometimes the directions are not clear or can be open to interpretation.

When I was invited to do the Facebook seven day black and white photo challenge the instructions read: "Seven days, seven black & white photos of your life. No people. No explanation. Challenge someone each day." 

I was looking forward to this, going through my photos, choosing seven that I felt were interesting, evocative, reminiscent, told a story, or were artistic. The first three days of posting photos passed and then I noticed something about many of the photos posted by others who had been challenged: they were of pets, food, stacks of toilet paper, etc. I read the challenge directions at the top of their photos and there was one word different: "everyday". "Seven days, seven black and white photos of your everyday life."

I had been doing the challenge wrong. I felt like a dummy. I really, really, really hate it when I am wrong. (Someday, maybe, I will get to the bottom of that. I'm sure it goes all the way back to childhood.) I was so upset that I decided not to post any more photos. Then I went back and read the instructions sent when I was challenged. They did not have that one word: everyday.

So I decided to go ahead and post the other four photos I had chosen. If I did the challenge wrong, so what? I have enjoyed, like Sinatra, doing it 'my way'. Looking through my pictures, changing them from color to black and white, posting them each day, has brought back many good memories, like the photo above of Charlie Taylor's water wheel with Bridal Veil Falls plunging into Clear Creek. I took that picture at Idaho Springs, Colorado the summer my Mom, my three children and I spent a week out there. Those indeed are some very special memories.