Puzzling the piece ...

I carry the pieces ... to my puzzle ... around in a ziplock bag.

For real.  I wouldn't kid about a thing like that.

It started out as a practical measure ... a long time ago.

You see, Jessi's always been a puzzle-piecing kind of gal.

Before she could talk to us ... in a language we could understand ... she was putting together puzzles.  She'd dump all of the pieces out on the table ... arrange & re-arrange ... until the picture was complete.

She quickly became bored with the ones with fewer, larger pieces .. designed for a child's hands ... and mind.  It was obvious ... even at a very early age ... that she was a master puzzler!

Left to her own devices, she'd drag the 100 ... 500 ... even 1000 piece puzzles out of the closet.  After removing the lid ... she'd scatter those pieces out ... and start matching them up.

Proof positive that she's my daughter ... drawn to the challenge ... with confidence & enthusiasm.

It's amazing still ... how keen her eye is ... to the shapes ... the colors.  She can put together a whole section inside the puzzle ... while I am still trying to figure out how the border pieces fit together ... thinking that's the best place to start since they all have a common straight edge.


Thing is ... as adept as she is to the complexities of puzzle piecing ... she is a lousy box opener.  Figuring out how to lift the lid ... all four sides evenly ... is not a part of her skill set.

She has the same problem with opening gifts.

Consequently, she approaches all package opening in the same fashion ... she gets ahold of one edge ... and rips her way inside ... with reckless abandon.

Works great when you aren't planning to use the box again ... but not so great for puzzle storage.

Such was the beginning of the ziplock puzzle bag habit ... at our house.  All puzzles, after the first visit, are bagged up for safe-keeping.

I know you must be wondering how she tells them apart once they are all bagged up. I don't have a good answer for that ... except to say that Jessi can look at the bag of hundreds of shapes & colors ... and know exactly what picture is inside.

It's simple to her, somehow ... yet the challenge for those of us who sort of need the box lid as a guide ... increases in the process.

One Christmas, Jessi got TWO  500 piece Wizard of Oz puzzles ... different pictures but made by the same company ... so the characters and colors all looked the same.

Everyone who knows Jessi ... knows how much she loves the movie ... and the story ... and the characters!  

For years she added us all into her own storyline ... her dad was the Cowardly Lion, her sister was the Scarecrow, and Pete the Mighty Dog was Toto.  Jessi, of course, was Dorothy ... adventuring down her personal yellow brick road.

And I ...

I had the dubious honor of being the Icky Ole Witch.  That's like a cross between Glinda the beautiful Witch of the North ... and the nameless Wicked Witch of the West who was actually Elvira Gulch in disguise.  

Jessi would start her imaginary story ... and she would name off her cast of characters ... and every time she would get to me ... she would throw her head back and laugh uproariously ... and boldly declare that I was the ... Icky Ole Witch.

It's a family term of endearment ... that I treasure. When I have grandchildren ... it is my desire to be known lovingly as Icky ... by the next generation as well.

Back to the puzzles.

After ripping open both Wizard of Oz boxes ... at one time ... the pieces of the two puzzles were mixed together.  It was very frustrating to me ... anyone could see that it was going to be impossible to ever put either of them together again ...

Both gifts were ruined. At least in my eyes.

Those Wizard of Oz puzzles continue to be amongst Jessi's favorites.

From time to time, she still drags that ziplock bag out ... and puzzles them together ... the two separate pictures ... from pieces that all look the same ... even though many have been lost along the way.

Which brings us to ... MY bag of puzzle pieces ...

Over time ... through move after move ... those bags of puzzle pieces have seen a lot of action.  And each year ... new puzzles are added to Jessi's arsenal.

It's been quite common over the years for me to find ... missing pieces ... in random, obscure places. Under beds, in corners, beneath couch cushions, in pockets ...
 
A few years back ... things changed around here ... leaving just me & her ... to face life on our own.  And a lot of re-arranging began ... I have found myself gathering ... examining ... discarding ... bits & pieces of .. me.

The final boxes from our Outer Banks days were drug in and sorted out ... an assortment of cartons, bags & piles of stuff left by those who moved on to new lives were tackled ... it has been a never ending process of packing ... and unpacking ... boxes from the garage, the storeroom, the upstairs, the downstairs ... resulting in the discovery that lots of pieces ... to her puzzles .. have somehow been ... let out of their bags.

I'm not sure why ... or when ... I started picking them up ... and tossing them into a ziplock of their own.  It was most likely during one of my cleaning out ... re-organizing ... sprees.  An unconscious gesture ... possibly even thinking that somehow I would return the pieces to their rightful homes ... since some of them were obvious.

Yeah, it is obvious where some of the pieces came from ... which picture they belonged to ... once upon a time.  Others ... not so clearly defined ... are going to be a little harder to figure out ... and then to decide if they are worth keeping around ... or not.

One day ... I picked up the bag ... thinking I should decide what to do with all of the mismatched pieces ...  and in a flash ... it hit me ...

This bag of rag-tag ... random ... pieces ... belonging to pictures from the past ... long-lost stragglers ... is a reminder that once out of the box ... out of the bag ... it's impossible to go back ... to where you once were ... before.

So I have kept the bag ... and keep adding to it ... as the opportunity arises.  It's one of my favorite props when I talk to groups about change ... and possibilities ... and hope.

It's been awhile since I've found any stray pieces ... around the house ... and in my life.  This past year has been focused on sorting through my collection.

I dump them out and re-arrange them ... often.  Literally ... and figuratively.  And there's no doubt that just as these pieces are missing from their original puzzles ... MY picture ... of the life I want to be living ... is still missing some pieces, as well.


The other day ... I found one ... a long-lost piece ... on the floor of the bathroom upstairs.  Keep in mind that the floor has been ripped out for months & months ... waiting to have some water damaged boards repaired.

So it's not like it's been hiding out there ... for a long time ... or anything.

It just appeared one day ... right in the middle of the floor.

A well-worn, ragged ... puzzle piece.  It's generic in color ... and it's arduous journey has been such that the colored paper top is slipping off of the cardboard base ... giving it a totally disheveled  look.

As I reached down ... awed to find it there ... wondering where the heck it had been ... and how it managed to turn up ... right there ... right now ...
the giggle started ...

You see, I am once again in a quandary ... as to what's coming next .. and how everything is supposed to fit ... in my picture ...

"Pick it up, MJ!  Put it in your bag! Don't you get it?!?!"

The laughter became louder ... and deeper ...

"It's YOUR missing ... puzzle piece!"

Of course .. it is.  It's the part of me that's been through the battle ... wallowing in the mud ... drenched ... then left to dry ... battered ... scarred ... imperfect ...

Yet stubbornly intact ... ready for what's coming next ...

So I put it in MY bag of puzzle pieces.

It's my story, after all ...

... and I can choose to  believe that I have left a trail of puzzle pieces ... instead of crumbs ... to lead me back ... to myself ... the MJ that I really like ...

... if I want to ...

Jessi teaches me so many things. About life.  About love.  About myself.

... and one of these days ... I will spread my pieces out on the table ...
and every single piece will fit ... perfectly!

www.lifelessons-mj.blogspot.com
October 2012