Life Is Like A Camera

I found an icon on Facebook ten years ago that I have always loved. It was the words in that icon as they relate to life. “Life is like a camera— Just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t turn out, just take another shot.”

Think about it. Our choices are not always perfect. Sometimes we rethink, and wonder why we ever thought ‘that idea’ was a good one. I guess that is life as we experience it.

As I look at this photo of my sweet little model, Audrey, I think of when I was her age. My early years were a little different from most. It was World War II and all our lives were affected. My parents decided to move to Fort Worth in order to work at the airplane factory. I was 5 years old and turning 6 in October, and not old enough to start school that September. In Fort Worth, I would have been placed in day care during the day while my parents worked.

It was a late start for my schooling, but my dad made arrangements (possibly paying tuition) for me to actually enter first grade in Olney after school had already started. I would live with my aunt and uncle, and walk to school with my cousins. I would only see my parents on holidays.

I made it ok even though I had never been exposed to reading at that point. So, the first day in school was quite a challenge. At that time we learned to read by sight reading (phonics was not taught until a year later). I had to sit in a reading group and actually read from the “Fun With Dick and Jane!” reader, with the teacher prompting me on each word—See Jane run, and see Dick jump! etc. (only the older generation will remember the Dick and Jane readers).

My second and third grades were spent living with my grandmother. As the war ended, my parents moved back to Olney. I was finally with my parents.

Living with family members as a child probably made me a rather independent thinker. That is where the saying, “Life is like a camera” comes to mind. And like most of us, I have chosen well, but when I didn’t, I just turned and went another direction. And when I am in doubt, I know the Lord will help me make a better choice.

After all, when ‘life is like a camera’—we can just regroup and take another shot!