The Accidental Lego-Build: Not for the Faint of Heart

My husband Allan introduced me to the art of constructing jigsaw puzzles eight years ago. Together, we built a 500-piece jigsaw of garden seed packets and I was hooked. From that point on, I never built less than a 1,000-piece puzzle, and he never built another puzzle.

He, on the other hand, discovered Legos, beginning with a model of the Titanic. As a teenager, he built complex models, and Lego construction came easy to him.

So for the past eight years, I have watched him build complex Lego structures, like the Ghostbusters car, a Volkswagen camper, a London double-decker bus, a ship in a bottle, R2-D2, a Vespa, the Pope’s Fiat, the LandRover Defender, and the list goes on.

The most beautiful Lego build of all that he has done is the three-dimensional build of Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night, which now hangs on the wall of our family room. We are anxious to see other 3-D models come from Lego, because he is not interested in the current Spiderman model that is available. Next on his list is a revolving lighthouse, this year’s Chanukah gift.

So as I recently mentioned in a Facebook post, I thought it time I try my hand at a Lego build, having long admired some of its floral designs. Allan delivered for Chanukah, of course, because he is the near-perfect husband and would have delighted in converting me to the Lego side.

There I was, opening my little plastic bags of tiny little pieces into my puzzle sorting trays. Opening my book of instructions. Looking at those pictures as if they were drawn/ written in a foreign language.

The Lego system of building just did not come easy to me for any number of reasons:

1. I did not find the diagrams, i.e. instructions, intuitive. At one point, I asked Allan if this model was meant for children because I found it so difficult. I felt somewhat better realizing it was designed for those 18 years and older.
2. The pieces are incredibly small. It would be interesting to me to know if the majority of Lego builders are men or women. It would seem to be me that it would be easier for women, with smaller fingers, to manipulate these very small pieces. But I found them very difficult to handle and my nails got in the way.
3. The pieces are hard and difficult to connect. By the end of any building session (usually 90 minutes for me), the tips of my fingers actually hurt. My hands never hurt after building a puzzle …
4. Building a Lego is a linear process. You must attach the pieces in the precise order. If the order of operations is not followed, the build will not work. I imagine it is not unlike piecing together an engine, or an airplane, or an automobile, just on a small scale. There is little room for error. I am not a linear person, and I don’t color within the lines.

With a puzzle, if I get stumped, I simply move to “another neighborhood.” I turn my puzzle board and move to another corner. I focus on a different color. I look at things upside down or from the seat of my spin cycle. You can’t do this building a Lego model.

What I could do, however, was to build the flowers out of order. In this particular set, I thought the first flower was the most difficult (my lack of experience?) and the least attractive (definitely the color). After fighting through the first one, I realized I had to build two more! Once those three flowers were built, I flipped through the instruction book and built the flowers in the order that I chose. Imagine that!

Will I ever build another Lego set? I have learned in life to “never say never.” And a dear friend says he is passing down the bonsai garden set, another one I have admired. So who knows what will happen once I get over this initial trauma.

Allan and I have been to a Lego builder’s show where master freelancers show off their designs. They are beyond imagination! Medieval villages six feet long, complete with forests, waterfalls, and drawbridges! Colorful creatures of the forest playing symphonic instruments! Creatures of the deep crawling the ocean floor! These are built from their own imaginations and understanding of the mechanics of Lego infrastructure — these are men and women who have much more of a math, science, engineering head than I do.

They love Lego, as does my dear, sweet husband. Leave me to my puzzles, at least for the time being. And let me color outside of the lines.