Life Is A Jigsaw Puzzle

Conversation at the orthodontist’s office.
Receptionist: “When can you come in, Mrs. Jersey?”

Me: “Well, now, let’s see…(mentally taking note) Thursdays are Spanish lessons and Brownie meetings, Thursdays are allergy shots, Mondays – arts and crafts class, Wednesdays – piano lessons. What about Friday?”

Receptionist: “We aren’t open on Fridays.”

Me: “Kevin only gets an allergy shot every other Tuesday – we could make it on one of the in between Tuesdays…”

Receptionist: “Sorry, the doctor will be out of town then.”

Me: “We could skip arts and crafts”

Child, piping in: “Mom, no way! We already missed two times…puh-lease don’t make us miss again…”

Me: “Okay, if it’s after 3:00, but before 4:30 on a Wednesday, we can come. Wait, no, soccer season will have started by then. I’ll tell you what – why don’t we just wait until summertime and we’ll have lots of free time…I’ll call you – Thanks!”

Does this sound familiar? I know our family’s schedule is probably less hectic than many others’, but I wonder how others manage their schedules with so little fuss or confusion. It seems to me that life is a jigsaw puzzle, and if you remove a piece or try to put it some place that it doesn’t belong, it affects the outcome of the total pictures.

I like to think I am a helpful person. When a friend asked me to take over her volunteer Spanish class while she was out of town, I didn’t hesitate to consent. I would already be at school teaching my own group. I just needed to stay an additional half hour to cover her class. What I didn’t foresee was that two of my children would have strep throat – not that they wanted to – but nonetheless, I had to cancel my class, my friend’s class, and call 14 mothers to tell them our Brownies meeting would be cancelled, as well. The jigsaw puzzle was definitely askew!

What is that physics theory” “For every actions, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” That’s my life. Every move forward is guaranteed to boomerang backward eventually. If I make plans to take a family trip on a weekend, you can count on the likelihood that unexpected guests will arrive on our doorstep an hour before we were planning to leave. If I send everyone out with raincoats, boats and umbrellas, I promise you it will be the sunniest day of the year. If I assemble all the necessary ingredients for a fabulous “gourmet” dinner, I assure you that come dinner time, I’ll hear, “I’m not really hungry, how about just soup and salad, or something simple.”

As a family, our schedules are forced to be interlocking, and it certainly can be much like solving a puzzle to meet everyone’s needs as best as possible. I always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles as a child. They were much easier to solve then.