The Wisdom in the Jigsaw Puzzle

     In my world the approach of winter solstice brings with it the resurrection of the jigsaw puzzle. Why I enjoy this giant time-waster speaks to a flaw in my character for sure, but I enjoy it to an embarrassing excess. This most useless of activities, this lowbrow challenge with it's geriatric associations manages every winter to throw me into a seasonal puzzle frenzy.  Oh, holy tessellation! (which is the most scholastic word to use regarding the elements of the jigsaw puzzle)

     Ah, but I'm never alone in this slacker activity. Others immediately feel the pull of the puzzle from its place on the requisitioned kitchen table. No one is immune to the urge to interlock. No one. My husband, my daughter, my sons, my daughter-in-law, a friend just dropping in for a visit will take a seat in attempt to put order to this chaos. Just one piece. Just a cup of coffee and a little assistance towards the cause. Minutes pass into quarter hours or longer until it is said: "Ugghhhh, enough!" The shame of a guilty pleasure overwhelms and slightly embarrasses the best of us. Could not we be doing something more useful with our time? Shouldn't we be somewhere?  And yet we return to the subject. I find myself up late working the puzzle under the lamp in an otherwise dark and silent house until I have to surrender to a stiff neck and dry eyes. The following morning my husband will wake to the progress I made and take his turn at the table. Our house now has a situation which captures our focus and are united in a task. This lowly pursuit becomes the-job-we-must-get-done though it remains a private familial pursuit, unheralded to the outside world, our little secret of what we do with our time.

     However, as I waste hours away at the puzzle I find I am doing some deep thinking, making observations about humanity. 


many of life's wisdom is right there in the activity:
puzzle etiquette
perseverance
leaving last pieces for someone else's pleasure
gathering to talk over the activity
giving focus to the heart of the home
the skill in seeing
overcoming doubt that the pieces really are all there--nothing is missing
the piece you were looking for was right at your fingertips the whole time