IMPERFECT FOLLOWER~Self-Portrait Challenge, October, Week 4

I do not like a lot of rules. I do not follow them all the time, either. It would be fair to say that I am prone to intentionally flout them at times. If someone tells me I cannot do something, it pretty much guarantees that I will immediately want to do it or consider doing it. I am a bit of a brat that way. More than anything or anybody else, my conscience is my guide. I prefer to follow it, and I trust it.

Granted, my brattiness plays a role in many of the rules I choose to disobey. If I see no harm to anyone or to myself, then I will do as I please...not as I am told. No arbitrarily set rules created by those who are not in a position to make them will be followed by me. That is a "take it to the bank" promise from me.

Yes, I have gone through a red light AFTER stopping and seeing no traffic or cars anywhere within eyesight. And, yes, there was a police officer in hiding who pulled me over for it. It was late at nite, I was tired, and I simply wanted to get home. I pointed out to the officer that I was very careful and treated the red light more like a stop sign due to my desire to be on my way to my bed. He acknowledged that he saw me stop and look in all directions before proceeding. He also told me I would be quite a bit closer to home had I just waited for the light to turn green and not had to deal with him. I told him he was right. He then sent me on my way. Nope, I did not get a ticket. Now, I do not do that often. But I cannot say in all honesty that I would never do it again.

Having spent years at hospitals visiting my father, I began to resent the difficulty sometimes encountered finding a parking space. It is bad enough that patients' families get bilked having to pay to park to visit an ill loved one. Compound insult to injury by making me hike six miles from where I am forced to park, and I seethe. So, I began to park in the doctors' parking lots. It drove my mother nuts when she was with me. She fretted about my car getting towed. Eh. There was a decal on my front window that was an Emeritus sticker, and I figured that would pretty much cause my vehicle to be overlooked by the greedy ticket writers on the premises. It worked. Not once was I ticketed during the many, many, many times I did that. AND I got to park steps away from the front door of the hospital.

I am all for rules that provide for the safety and welfare of everybody. I really am. But, every once in a while, some of the rules are just begging to be broken, and I am the gal to do it. And I can and will and do.

So, my picture for this month's Self-Portrait Challenge does not really suit the theme. My written words do, but the photograph does not. I am breaking the "rule" for this challenge. I am posting one of my all-time favorite pictures of me as a child. It captures my personality. Completely! And, well, my personality is imperfect, but it is mine. Like it or not, it is who I am. Besides, I was a cute little brat back then. ::grin::


(October's Self-Portrait Challenge weekly theme is: "Look beyond the surface of your life, dig into your imperfect self and reveal it to us. I want to see the down and dirty you, the messy, gross and ugly you, the side of yourself that you always try to hide, give us some insight into your dreadful secrets. This can be your physical self or your personal space or within your wider life. Be not afraid!")