The Accidental Puzzler

I have a confession: I am an addict. Over the past two years, I have become addicted to jigsaw puzzles, primarily bright, graphic puzzles of 1,000 pieces or more. And you can blame this addiction squarely on my husband!

The first time I went to Allan’s home in 2016, I saw a hallway filled with framed puzzles between the bedrooms and the kitchen. All were food-related, collage puzzles: vintage cereals, candy bars, etc. How cute and quaint, thought I.

When we moved to Charleston in 2017, he suggested that we build a puzzle together, so we started with a 500-piece collage puzzle of vintage gardening seeds. Suffice it to say that I have not stopped since, though the activity has been around since 1760 (thanks to a Brit, John Spilsbury, a London cartographer).

In short, I have entered a whole new subculture, joined Facebook groups (which, by the way, are extremely friendly and never mention politics), spend undue amounts of time perusing puzzle sites, and occasionally entertain thoughts of shipping puzzles from European companies. In short, I am one step away from going off the deep end of puzzle mania.

In my defense, I have “friends” on-line who have puzzle “stashes” as high as 200. Your “stash” is your accumulation of unopened puzzles that you can’t wait to build, yet you can’t stop buying when you see additional beautiful puzzles. My stash is only around 10. (True confession: I ordered yet one more puzzle yesterday from the Museum of Modern Art. But it is a stunner!)

I have also discarded some earlier puzzles, sold several unopened ones as my “puzzle tastes” have narrowed, and donated others. Friends and family members have learned not to send me puzzles, because buying a puzzle for someone is like buying a woman a purse. It is an extremely personal decision and not one to be made by someone else. At least, not in my world.

The truth of the matter is that I have learned some valuable lessons from my puzzling:

• Puzzling is a mindful exercise. I get lost in the process, and can sit in front of a puzzle for several hours, focused on the process, devoid of other thoughts, and not eating. All good things, until I see that my little pup is faint with hunger!
• Puzzling forces you to consider multiple ways to solve a problem. Those pieces just don’t fit together well. I turn them every which way; I rotate the puzzle; I look at each puzzle from every angle.
• Puzzling teaches you perseverance. At times, when my patience wears thin, my husband has suggested that I surrender to the puzzle and either put it away or discard. Well, I’ll be damned if I am ever going to be bested by a jigsaw puzzle. Call me stupid or call me persistent; I stick with it until I “win!”
• Puzzling teaches you creativity. I am not the only person to complete a puzzle to find that a piece is missing. Sometimes, puzzles are sent incomplete; sometimes, a pet or a vacuum cleaner simply eats a piece. I have solved this dilemma in creative ways, using either the poster that comes with well-made puzzles or poster board of a similar color behind the missing piece. I consider these hidden flaws my signature on such a puzzle.
• Puzzles cost less than shoes and purses, though we have had at least one 2,000-piece puzzle custom-framed for the master bedroom. But it is a beautiful work of art that consumed much of my time as well as our dining room table for a long time.
• Research by The Alzheimers Society of Canada indicates that doing jigsaw puzzles is one of many activities that keeps the brain active and can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. So there!

Is there a downside to my new addiction? Perhaps. I have scared Allan away from puzzling, though he has taken on extremely complex Lego designs which I would never touch. I feel that I read less, because my reading is now confined to late night rather than all evening. But I still read a lot, by anyone’s standards.

So I welcome this new hobby into my life. I enjoy my Facebook groups, Jigsaw Puzzlers and Keeping Up with New Releases. I enjoy scouring the puzzle sites and searching for releases by certain artists. Check out Sally Rich puzzles by Grafika (a French puzzle company) or Annie Lee (an African American artist) puzzles by Sunsout if you want to see truly beautiful images. You might find puzzling is just the relaxing hobby you need as well.