Assembling a jigsaw puzzle while watching television is a relaxing pastime for me. Many times I will post my progress on the current puzzle on FB. A few days ago I started work on a circular puzzle depicting the women and one man who were instrumental in securing voting rights for women.

At first the puzzle seemed daunting. As I examined the pieces I realized just like with square or rectangle shaped puzzles, there were flat edges. I am a build the frame then fill in puzzle builder. First, I sorted the edges from the other pieces. Then I sorted all the pieces that had words or numbers into two categories – the inside circle or the outside circle. I also sorted the pieces for the center, they were easy to distinguish from other pieces. Thankfully this puzzle came with a terrific poster so I didn’t have to keep looking at the box lid.

After I assembled the outside frame, I assembled the inner and outer rings of names and dates. Constantly checking the poster aka cheat sheet. Now how to continue? That’s when I had an aha moment. I could look at each person as an individual puzzle and then put them together to make the whole. That was far less daunting than trying to figure out where this piece or that piece when.

Then another aha moment, each of these people doing their part resulted in women getting the vote. Yes, it took too long but they did it. Together. And believe or not I had another aha moment, each of us doing our part during this coronavirus crisis – social distancing, washing our hands, staying home, and caring for our neighbor will help the whole.

Finishing a jigsaw puzzle is fun and gives me a sense of accomplishment. It is discouraging when I finish and there is a piece missing. I had all the pieces for my women’s vote puzzle. I hope and pray we have all the pieces for the coronavirus puzzle.

Take care. Be well.