Puzzling Expectations

Happy December! I apologize for my delay on this post. Work has been crazy, and I have been doing a lot of puzzles!

I wanted to write about something that I realized over the past couple of weeks. It’s about puzzling expectations. We all know that we can be disappointed in our lives if our expectations are not met. But it can work both ways, and we can be pleasantly surprised!

First, I had a beautiful Pomegranate sitting on my shelf for months. I was nervous to work on it because it seemed so difficult, and I read a lot of feedback stating it was challenging. I was prepared to spend a lot of time on it. In the end, it took me a few days, and is one of my favorite puzzles this year.

Bubble Street, Daniel Merriam

That puzzle took a lot of sorting. I made 3 piles of pieces from the purple, pink, and green houses and treated it as 3 mini puzzles. So much fun and I love those pastel colors. Highly recommended!

Second, I received a gift card and ordered a wooden puzzle. My only experience with a wooden puzzle was the adorable JaCaRou that I did recently. It was 150 pieces. Having the expectation that my mad puzzling skills would triumph over the extra large sized puzzle, I ordered the 700 piece. I opened it, assembled 7 pieces and put it back in the box. Don’t get me wrong, I know I could have done it. My issue was time. I realized this puzzle would take a LOT of time. The pieces were small, the details were intricate, and I would have had to scrutinize each piece to see where it goes. I have a friend who was doing the puzzle at the same time as me. We were on a video call whilst puzzling. And although she likes to take time to savor and devote 20 minutes a day to her wooden puzzles, I am not that person. I like to work through them quickly. I simply don’t have the patience. I might try it again with a smaller piece count one day, but my expectations of excitement were fizzled out like a candle when I saw it was more like work than fun. Next!

Lastly, I did a puzzle by a brand that I have enjoyed in the past. I had nothing but great expectations. I can only assume that the manufacturer has changed something in their process or materials since the recent ones I have done, because I did not enjoy this at all. The pieces fit in multiple places, they were not cut well, and they did not fit properly. I finished it but I was ready to pack it up multiple times. I’ll still do others by this brand; I was just surprised.

All this to say that we never know what we will find when we open a puzzle. If we keep an open mind, we might very well find things that surprise us. 😊

How about you? Have you been surprised? Let me know.