Jigsaw

A week or so after I arrived at my fiance's house I started a one thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. For three weeks we couldn't have guests for dinner because the puzzle covered the dining room table. I mostly worked on it while listening to Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room.

Seems like an odd way to relax but it works for me.

When we were living in big homes and the kids would gather two or three times a year I would try to have a jigsaw puzzle going somewhere in the house. One year it was a murder mystery. The plot was written on the box. The clues were in the completed puzzle. We got it solved before the weekend was up. Low tech fun.

My guess is that, for me, a jigsaw puzzle relieves stress because it's a quiet task that starts in chaos and ends with my having put it right.

I wish I could do that with some of the people I love. But I know I cannot.

And, of course, it's a brain teaser.

A while back my friend in Florida called. I told her about the dining room table issue and she had a solution. Do the puzzles on the computer.

So, now I'm doing a puzzle every day at www.jigzone.com. No mess. No cost.


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