Puzzling

“You’re going to make such a good grandma.” It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. This is what my best friend said to me when I told her I liked to do jigsaw puzzles. I realized I was into them about the time I discovered books on tape, oh, about 8 years ago. I had bought some nice 200 and 300 piece Ravensburger puzzles with an Amazon gift card to do with the family, but no one else was really into it.

I remember listening to lots of zombie fiction in the beginning of my love affair with puzzles, World War Z (brilliant on audiobook!) then much of the Walking Dead series (the reader of these is an amazing voice actor!) It became one of my favorite activities to put together a smaller puzzle—really meant for children–that I could finish in one evening as I listened to my book and drank a (bottomless) glass of wine.  

After awhile, I progressed to larger puzzles that would take much longer to complete. We never had an extra table for me to use, so I would spread it out on the dining room table and we’d just put placemats over the pieces or the completed part of the puzzle during meal times. This resulted in lost pieces that would stick to the mats, fall off, and get kicked away or fall down the floor vents. Sometimes there would be food spills that stained the colorful pieces. So one year for Christmas, I got one of those felt pads and a blow up cylinder to wrap my puzzle projects in and make them portable. This really didn’t work very well, partly because it just didn’t work very well and partly because we had a really hairy dog and the felt piece was always covered in dog hair and just got gross.

I also figured out what kind of puzzles I like. The picture definitely matters. When I’m in the mood for challenging, a large puzzle, say 1000-1500 small pieces that are nearly uniform in shape is my go-to. I don’t care for the challenge of a visually monotonous puzzle. I prefer vivid colors and will do landscapes, seascapes, animals, and even more abstract pictures as long as the colors are stimulating.

I can also milk the pleasure of a puzzle by assembling it multiple times. I’m not a one-and-done unless the puzzle failed to satisfy the first time around. The smaller the puzzle, the more times I can put it together before it loses its appeal. Even with the hours of enjoyment I can get from a single puzzle, I can’t bring myself to spend lots of money on them. They’re kinda expensive! So now if I’m purchasing a puzzle, it’s at a thrift store. Yeah, pretty hit or miss. I’ve settled for less than perfect yet been pleased by how few times pieces are missing. Puzzles are usually just a few cents at thrift stores, so you really can’t expect too much, but once in a while, I’ll find a gem!

I like what jigsaw puzzles do for my brain. It’s so interesting how your vision quickly adapts to the puzzle so that you can scan the pieces for the nuances of the scene or section you’re completing. There are numerous strategies, and which you apply depends a great deal on the style of puzzle. There’s the puzzle piece shape approach where you have to quickly learn the basic shapes that particular puzzle contains—it may seem this is only useful when the puzzle pieces vary in shape, but even subtle differences in the shape of the female and male parts of the standard piece can be the key.

My husband thinks it’s cheating to use the box, but this is often my go-to. I find it very satisfying to pick up a piece, move it over the box to locate exactly where it is in the picture, then place it directly into its exact location in the puzzle. Usually this comes after the major sections are completed by assembling all the relevant pieces nearby and using shapes and patterns to fill in the large chunks of the scene/picture. I tend to use all the puzzling strategies for each puzzle I do now.

Did you know that some people don’t sort the pieces? So weird! I have to start with the edges while also flipping all the pieces and laying them in a single layer so I can see every individual piece. If the puzzle is too large for my surface, I will sort out those main sections based on the patterns on the pieces, a few of those sections at a time, while leaving the rest of the puzzle in the box. Takes much longer this way, but what’s a person to do? If you have a better way when faced with this predicament, please share!

Turns out, several of my siblings are into puzzles also. Love it! Now we tend to do a puzzle when we’re hanging out shootin’ the shit. It’s fascinating to see that there are other ways to attack the puzzle, though we all seem to like running our hands over the completed project. The best part though is that we puzzle swap! They all seem to still spend good money on puzzles, so I tend to get the better end of the deal.

One more thing about puzzles. Like all my favorite active meditation activities, I love the metaphors for life that jigsaw puzzles provide: chunking things down; establishing boundaries; the birds’ eye view; when I get stuck, I often shift my position so I can look at the puzzle from another angle, building something just to tear it down again. I find incredible satisfaction and comfort in jigsaw puzzles. What does this say about me? Don’t know, and for once, I don’t really care.