When Bonnie ordered her wheelchair she had a color option. She chose red. 

Bonnie is my mother-in-law and at age 93 her feet no longer bear weight. The time between ordering and delivery was measured in weeks instead of days. During the wait Bonnie developed a good mental picture of her red wheelchair. When it finally arrived it was not the wheelchair she had imagined. The metal frame was red, but everything else was black.

She had waited so long for her red wheelchair and now it was not what she had expected—such a disappointment. Why wasn’t it red? She ordered a red wheelchair.

Whether a physical object (such as a wheelchair) or perhaps a concept or a goal, we form an image of a future event or how a project will turn out. We set goals. We create expectations. We imagine the wonderful results produced by our efforts. And sometimes it happens, and sometimes the wheelchair is only slightly red.