Appreciating Good Directions

I appreciate a good set of directions.  Back in the years before children but after college graduation I took a technical writing class at the University of Minnesota.  I toyed with the idea of becoming a technical writer for a time.  "Use the active voice," said the instructor. I struggled with using the active voice that until I realized he meant to write the directions to sound like a recipe.  Recipes I can write.  This weekend I got a good set of directions with my platform bed and it was a breeze, no, more than a breeze, it was a Zen experience to put the bed together.  Carrying all the wood upstairs wasn't a load of fun but putting it together was because the instructions were well written.  Using a screw driver, an Allen wrench and keeping my magnifying glasses on my head, I was calm and relaxed and happy while I worked.  No doubt the writer of these instructions actually had the experience of  putting this bed together.  The mattress feeds much more comfortable than my old mattress.  My back was unusually sore on Monday though but I hope that was from all the carrying, bending and stooping I did while following the directions and not from the new mattress.  Now, when I sleep, it's quiet.  I can turn over without listening to my old brass bed frame creak and squeak in complaint.