Beginnings are great. There's so much to be discovered, and it's so much fun to get caught up in the rush of putting together the puzzles of the people we encounter.
Some of them are only 25-piece puzzles, with simple pictures. The picture on the box is appealing and colorful , even opening the box is filled with giddy anticipation. Once the lid is off and you begin putting the pieces together, you find that it's just too easy. The flashy colors are still vibrant and the pretty picture is all intact, but there are only 25 pieces. There's no complexity, no challenge to bring that picture together. You can break it down and put it back together in an instant. I've met people that are like this. So beautiful and vibrant, but as hollow as a raccoon's knot in a tree. Getting to know them is already over, just when you thought it had only barely begun. Once you get bored of putting the same puzzle together repeatedly, you pack it up in the box, hand it to the fairy in the closet to hold for you, and you move on to bigger puzzles.
After going through a few puzzles, you find the next challenge-- the 250-piece portrait, the one you have visions of framing once you're done with it. Maybe you're not so much in love with the picture, but it's still a challenge nonetheless. The box is ripped open, you pour all the pieces out at once, but halfway through the process, you find that you don't like the picture too much. Maybe you get bored of the landscape, because all the pieces look exactly the same, like that field with all the purple flowers and grass. There's nothing particularly appealing about it except that there are so many pieces-- but then again, are there really? 250 is not a whole lot, and it doesn't seem worth putting together when it's all gonna look the same at the end. I've met people like this, too. They never seem to get beyond the flowers, the scenery is all the same, and there's no vibrancy. It most certainly isn't a fault; I mean, there are a lot of people out there that like that element of sameness and consistency; it's just not my cup of tea. Sadly, you lose interest and put it back in the box before you ever finish it. You hand the box to that little fairy in the closet to hold for you, and slowly shut the door. So you move on, in search of more puzzles.
The next major puzzle that follows is a 750-piece that you found at a second hand store. You make sure that you really like the picture, because these puzzles are almost guaranteed to have pieces missing. You peek in the box before buying it to make sure that there aren't too many pieces missing but, you never really stop to count how many there were because-- well-- the picture was beautiful and one-of-a-kind, and you'd probably never score this one again. Once you begin putting it together, you love it and admire it right at the start, still reeling off the luck you had in finding it. As you go along, you start to figure out which pieces are missing, and you do your best to ignore the fact that you skipped over that part of the picture to start on another part. You even think about buying extra cardboard and making the pieces yourself. You might have the box to rely on when copying that missing piece, and you can have the steadiest hand and the sharpest tools, but a part of you knows those pieces are not original, and you can't help but notice the imperfections of their artifice. We meet people all the time that are great, but you know that they're missing a few pieces. We can care for those people and try to help them fill in those gaps. Ultimately, we know that we don't have the power to fill in the pieces that the person him/herself cannot fill. Any effort on our part to cut and paste is only for show, and we know it. That puzzle will never be finished, it will never be complete; and as much as it hurts, you have to leave that puzzle behind-- so off it goes into the hands of the next fairy in the closet, and the search continues.
In the meantime, your closet seems to get a little crowded with all the puzzles you've abandoned, but you just can't seem to let go of them. They all have special meanings-- where you were when you found them, who might have given them to you, how easy/hard they were to find, etc. Yet none of these find their way into the frame you created with the dreams of your expectations, and none seem to blend well with the glass you chose to hold them against-- they all seem to have blurred when you held them up to the light, or faded with the passing of time. What then? Do you continue looking for the perfect puzzle, or are you content with having the collections held by the skeletons of the hopeful fairies in your closet?
I still hold out hope that the puzzle I left out on my table will find its completion. I've held on to many puzzles over the years, and I crudded up my closet with many loose pieces and broken sets, and all the completed ones that didn't hold their luster. I've thrown away all my old puzzles, because none will ever be THIS puzzle; this beautiful, eclectic image of which I only have fragments and landscapes. I've left this puzzle on my table, slowly building together the image as I find the pieces. This puzzle is the most challenging by far, because I don't know how many pieces it has, whether I will find them all, or if the image will last. I don't know any of these things, but my faith in the strength of my love for this image keeps me searching. In my haste, I've taken the incomplete puzzle and I've held it within my frame, and I've altered and colored in my frame to match that of the image. No parts of it have blurred or faded, even when I've held it in the most blazing sunlight. Nothing is more exciting or thrilling than finding the pieces as they come. Every piece that's gained is a step closer to my happiness.
One day, I will find all the remaining pieces, and I will finally have completed that puzzle-- and when I do, I will never stop appreciating the beauty and the light that image brings to me. That puzzle never see the darkness of the closet, and every fairy will be revived by the magical love that image will exude.
Love and Happiness to all, and I hope you find your perfect puzzle. :D
Amazing, I can't wait to read more from you ^_^
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