The Right Time

Subtitle: Sentimental Journey

The Winged Map of the World is done....and is most certainly in my top 10 favorite puzzles! I wish you could see it in person....the colors are a bit muted....but oh such a beautiful butterfly effect!

I start feeling a little sentimental this time of year....so bear with me as I reminisce the pieces and parts of a sentimental journey.

Almost exactly two years ago....Margie (my mother-in-law) put together this beautiful puzzle. It was a challenge....but she stuck with it....and it was the last puzzle she would ever do.  

Just few days later she had a fall and broke her hip. 

And just three weeks after that she passed away. It was all such a whirlwind of emotions and events....and it's all still pretty raw. Especially this time of year.

A week or so after Margie died I started this very puzzle. It was the right puzzle at the right time. I had a few issues along the way including dumping all the pieces...but just like Margie...I stuck with it. But in the end I was missing a piece and I was faced with the dilemma of whether to gift it knowing there was a missing piece. I loved all the responses I got in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2024/11/would-you.html

A month later....the piece turned up in the most unusual place...and it's one of my favorite parts of the story. Spoiler in case you don't link to the post...I found the piece in one of Margie's shoes.  https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-good-laugh.html

I gifted the puzzle to my friend Becky with the newly found piece in the box. She had met Margie....and I knew she would appreciate the story.....and I always gift her a puzzle for the winter.

Low and behold several months later.....I was gifted the VERY same puzzle from Brenda...a mutual friend of both Becky's and mine. I was so appreciative...but I tucked it away knowing that I needed time and space before I tackled it again. 

For the second time...it's the right puzzle at the right time. Maybe on some level Brenda knew that I would want to do it again...and I'm grateful. I've already started sorting the pieces into my album boxes...but I won't actually start putting it together for another week. Paul and I have company coming tomorrow evening through Wednesday...then we leave on Thursday for a little trip. 

The time and space away will be good during this particular timeframe...and it will absolutely be the right time to start assembling this colorful puzzle when I get back. And I'll be thinking of Margie and our sentimental journey with her here in Maine the whole time I'm working on it!