Too Puzzled


Let me begin by confessing it was my idea to pull out the 500-piece puzzle. Even though I help my granddaughter with her much easier puzzles, it has been years since I ventured to do a more challenging one. Perhaps I was hoping my husband, Tom, would say “No”.

Instead, he went out to the garage and brought in our folding card table so we could take our time—not expecting to finish it in an evening.


We had a warm fire crackling and ironically, the puzzle resembled a winter cabin scene—much like where we live.


I began second guessing my decision to do a puzzle as I dutifully flipped all the pieces right side up. Then I slowly sorted them by color. Very slowly.


Tom rejoiced when he matched up some of the bottom pieces. I inwardly groaned. This would take way too long for my get-it-done-quickly attitude.


Puzzles are meant to be challenging. 


But isn’t life challenging enough right now, my inner voice argued, without entertaining yourself with something designed to be hard to figure out?


So, I gave up and stretched out on the couch to watch Tom puzzle all by himself.


In about fifteen minutes, Tom opened the box and scraped all the pieces back into it. 





“Why are you quitting?” I implored. As if I hadn’t already quit.


“It’s a lot of work, and it’s not as fun without you.” So, there it was. My quitting had led to his quitting.


It’s just a puzzle I reminded myself. I’m not really a quitter. But still, I’d quit.


So, the next day I went back to the garage for the folding table and set things back up. When Tom came in, he sat down next to me with a smile.  


Let’s see if I can commit to finishing what I suggested we start.


Puzzles are a lot like our lives—hard at times, but when the pieces fit, the final picture comes together as it is meant to be.


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