  Spring cleaning is underway and the criteria is clear. Sort what you've got into one of three categories: keep, recycle, or trash. There's plenty that's suitable for recycling, things long overdue for the rubbish bin, and more than enough to keep. But there's one item that's tugged at my heart all week. The old, tattered Raggedy Ann that sits on a shelf in the back of the closet. She's faded, her clothes have yellowed, and there are stains on her cotton face, mitten hands, and apron. Her right boot, slight in stuffing, is hand-stitched in place with mismatched fabric. So as I do with each item I come across, I look her over and consider what to do, and know, I'm far from that little girl she came to live with. When I push aside the yellowed collar of her floral dress to find the simple red outline of her heart, it nearly beats when I read the words, "I Love You" printed inside it's border, and the answer is clear. She's a keeper.  Get the story starters calendar and more, every Sunday. It's free!
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 Thursday is Nat'l Puzzle Day. About once a year, usually during the winter, I sit down across the span of a few days and peck away at a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle.
A mid-winter meditation. The last two puzzles, brand new out of the box, were each missing one piece. Come on. Of course I couldn't have known there was a missing piece unless it had been a corner or border piece because that's where I always begin. So it wasn't a distraction or a disappointment, until there were no more pieces to place. But there was a hole, a missing piece. I looked on the floor, under my chair, and checked the empty box. Nope, nowhere to be found. It was disappointing not to place that final piece. To have the satisfaction of pressing it into place. And it left me wondering ... What now? Do I label the box, "one piece missing?" Seems a rather defeated way for the next puzzler to begin. Or do I leave it as it and let them discover there's a missing piece as I did (setting them up for a similar disappointment), or toss the whole thing into the recycling bin? I'm puzzled. ------------- p.s. The stylized haiku above was an interesting writing exercise. It's challenging to figure out how and what to say in the haiku format, to make it work: 3 lines: 1st line = 5 syllables 2nd line = 7 syllables 3rd line - 5 syllables ---------- It was better not (5 syllables) to know there was a missing (7 syllables) piece. Puzzled it out. (5 syllables) ---------- Traditional haiku often invokes nature, but it can be applied to other subjects as well ... an interesting way to tell a short story. If you write one, I'd love to read it. |
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