Life surprisingly mirrors a jigsaw puzzle

I've been obsessed the last eight days. For the first time in three decades, I bought a jigsaw puzzle because I saw how much fun my toddler granddaughter had with her puzzle. I was impressed that she completed the puzzle facedown without the picture or colors of the individual piece showing, within 30 seconds. So I wanted to see how fast I could finish a jigsaw puzzle. I set my standards high by forgoing a 500-piece adult puzzle and choosing a 1,000-piece adult puzzle. Since I grew up near the ocean and small lakes, I chose a picturesque scene featuring a lake in a forest that, when finished, would look nice framed on my sunroom wall. Thinking this puzzle would be easy, I looked for all the end pieces to start building the scene within. But I hit a roadblock within one hour of arranging the end pieces by color. The forest pieces, lining the left and right sides of the puzzle, were the same shade of green; the sky pieces and water pieces lining the top and bottom sides, were the same purple shade. The box cover depicting the scene had gorgeous intricate hues but the hues didn't match the real pieces, no matter how many times I studied the cover. One day later, I had only connected nine pieces by trial and error. My progress, along with my confidence, went downhill from there. But I refused to give up and kept checking out the pieces every time I passed my dining room table where they lay scattered in no particular order. I soon realized that putting together the puzzle resembled a microcosm of emotions and reactions we experience in our daily lives. For example, I got mad on Saturday, the third day into the puzzle that I overslept and lost an hour to work on my new project. Instead of going for my morning jog, I ran over to the dining room table to look at the pieces. On Sunday, a dream about where a weirdly-shaped piece might fit woke me up. Told you I was being obsessive! And instead of being happy about that, I was stressed that I had only put a handful of the end pieces together. I also searched several times for end pieces hiding amid the 850-plus other pieces. And each time, the two or three pieces that I missed during my previous searches joined the majority of end pieces with no place to land. My success was greatly challenged by cheaply-manufactured pieces that didn't perfectly line up with adjacent pieces. Although the pieces seemed to connect, the edges did not produce a straight line. Many pieces that appeared to belong together were removed after closer inspection revealed that they had nothing in common. I kept trying though, 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, and after eight days, I have 121 end pieces in place and 35 pieces that might be end pieces with no connection yet. Each time two pieces snap together and I see the start of a wave or a part of a tree branch, I feel that I'm moving forward. I've modified my challenge to myself: I now don't care how fast I put together the puzzle; I just want the satisfaction of placing all 1,000 pieces. I also tried a new strategy, leaving the end pieces alone for a day, and connecting bright red pieces located somewhere in the puzzle's middle. I was excited to think outside my former way of clicking all end pieces together before proceeding to the "fun" pieces. Just like in real life, I have experienced frustration, uncertainty, doubt, determination, hope, relief and happiness, often on the same day, with the puzzle. By the way, the adult puzzle description states that it is for ages 13-plus. If area teens can complete this puzzle without losing focus or their patience, the future of our community is in great hands. I still only have about a 10th of the puzzle pieces in their rightful place after eight days. But that just mirrors life: I know that I'll finish my puzzle and, as more pieces begin to fit, working on it will become more enjoyable and comfortable. Other responsibilities, obligations and events, some expected and others unexpected, pop up all the time in our daily schedules. It's how we handle everything with as much fun, grace and balance as possible that really matters at the end of the day.