My wife likes being productive as well but she also enjoys taking time to do relaxing things such as putting puzzles together. In our younger days, back when I didn’t spend all of my time trying to be productive, we used to work on puzzles together. And it was fun.
But putting puzzles together takes time. And these days I have a hard time justifying spending hours on a project with no payoff at the end. A completed puzzle doesn’t allow me to mark a single thing off my never-ending list of things to do.
Which is why I found it a little odd that over the past few days, I have helped her on, not one, but two puzzles. Even while we were working on the puzzles I wondered why I was “wasting” time on such things. Not that spending time with my wife is a waste of time; it’s just that I feel guilty not accomplishing anything other than finishing a picture on cardboard. I said as much to her while we “worked” and she agreed that puzzles were ultimately a waste of time. “But, I like doing them,” she added.
I had to admit, it was still fun; searching through the scrambled bits of colored cardboard, looking for that certain piece, or seeing a uniquely shaped piece and determining where it goes, is, in the end, rewarding—sort of. Yet, even as I looked at the completed picture, my satisfaction was short-lived, and it had nothing to do with not marking something off my list.
See, when my wife finishes a puzzle, she then becomes very time conscious—like she’s suddenly worried about being efficient and not wasting time getting things done. What I’m referring to specifically is, she almost immediately tears the puzzle apart to put it back in the box. Me, I’d like to leave it there a day or so, maybe a week, no more than a month at the most, just to look at and enjoy the fact that it is together.
Notice anything odd? It’s almost like we switch roles once the puzzle is finished. Briefly. Then, it’s back to reality—and back to my list. Speaking of my list, normally I put a big dent in it on the weekend, but this past weekend it didn’t really get much smaller. You’d think that would bother me, and yet, it really doesn’t. I had a good time and there’s always next weekend. But that sort of mentality, putting things off until later, is just not like me. And frankly, it has me worried—and a little puzzled. ~
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.