Side by Side

Great Grandma stood over the dining room table, concentrating on her puzzle. It was quiet, and her focus remained unmarred.

Then suddenly a door burst open, and through it came 3 stair-step blondes followed by their mother. Also blond. The puppy came in last, and need I mention its color? Yes, there was noise; but it was a happy kind of noise. The kind which reminds you that you are loved.

If the eldest took note of the Retro phone, the mid-kid spied the puzzle. "Oh Great Grandma, I LOVE puzzles!" and she dove immediately in. The smallest boy also felt interested, and hovered briefly nearby. But soon there were only the two; the 4-nearly-5 year old and the Great Grandmother, side by side companionably together.

For the longest time they were lost to the world, seeking out colors, and shapes, and positions. "I like the white pieces," said the girl, gathering and setting them aside to peruse at her leisure. Great Grandmother liked the lower bits, the bits with combinations of dark blue and gray and brown. They worked in sinc, exclaiming whenever they happened to fit a piece, and laughing now and then. "Good job!" said Great Grandma, and the little girl smiled.

Great Grandma told me later about that girl's strategy for finding and fitting her pieces. She looked for shape, and compared it with the shapes of the other white pieces. And she could correctly identify which shapes would fit with which pieces. It was quite uncanny.

Later when I wandered into the puzzle room, I tried this strategy and found that it worked. You learn something new every day!

Fitting puzzles is just such a splendid thing to do with someone you love. You can talk about anything, or nothing; you can cheer one another on with each new small success; you can even use brain cells that might have otherwise been resting the day away. 

And in the end when the puzzle is complete, you have that beautiful picture there to admire. You had only seen bits and pieces, before; but now you see all. Young or old, that is a pleasure not to be scorned.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady