jig-saw puzzles

Puzzles, as in jig-saw.

Today I was amazed when my adult son said he and his wife started putting puzzles together! The practice was such an integral part of my childhood but not a part of our current family's history.

The occasion for puzzles in my childhood home was usually a snowstorm! When the flakes started falling, Dad would come home from work and it was time to set up a puzzle. We had a whole big box of them in the attic so the pieces were always icy when we began to lay them out on the kitchen table. Then we would each claim our side, top or bottom and set to work. I was never heavily invested and more often than not came rushing in at the finish line rather than slogging through the early going. Still, I remember with joy.

And there is never a family reunion that doesn't have a puzzle set up in some corner and truth be told, when you haven't seen people for a long while and are unfamiliar with the face of their daily lives, putting a puzzle together is the perfect bridge over awkward conversation.

My son said at first he had to school himself not to think it was a tremendous waste of time - but no!! It's the perfect tool to slow the mind and relax the soul, while sharpening all kinds of skills concerning shape, texture, color recognition.

And in my later years' familiarity with retirement institutions I always smile to see the inevitable puzzle set up in some corner and always a few residents in thoughtful contemplation.

Puzzles, the quietly satisfying, joyfully tedious process of  searching for that piece with a bit of green, two hooks, and a slightly rounded top -  the spying, the hopeful transporting to the empty space and voila!! A perfect fit!

 How much of your day turns out like that??!