It's Puzzling.

                                 

                                     

               I LOVE JIGSAW PUZZLES!

I have been working for weeks on this puzzle.  It has been soooo difficult because so many pieces look alike.  But I'm getting there, slowly but surely.  I am drawn to it like a magnet.  I find it hard to walk by it without finding just one more piece.  And when I begin, time flies so fast that I realize an hour has gone by!

What is it about these puzzles that is so intriguing?

                Upon opening the box, the jumble of thousands of pieces
                          is screaming to be put into some kind of order.

My mind begins to calm as I look more closely and I am able to group them based on their similarities.

         Even though they all might look the same sometimes,

                each piece is unique with variations in
                    color, shape, patterns, and size.

                    No one piece is more important than another.

           Even though the surface may look even to the naked eye,
                    some pieces stand out more than others.

                    Sometimes it is difficult to see the picture
                                  when you are too close...

               so it is necessary to step back and distance yourself
                               to understand the bigger picture.

       While the front of each piece is smooth and shiny,
look a little deeper and they are all made from the same stuff.

    It really bothers me when I think I know EXACTLY
                        what I am looking for,
                            but I can't find it.

                       Have you ever looked at two pieces
            and wondered if they were really meant to be together?

     

       Yet at other times it is so blatant that they were meant to be.



      Have you ever searched for hours for a missing piece...

                          only to come back the next day
                    and see it staring you right in the face?


  There is SO MUCH to learn from a jigsaw puzzle!

 Addendum:   The puzzle is done!  Thanks to Kerry, Lucas, and Annie who worked on it with me this afternoon for a few hours to get it done!