Dear Fellow Jigsaw Puzzlers & Fellow readers,

Jigsaw Puzzles have been around since 1760.  Hard to fathom that 261 years later, it's becoming once again a booming industry.  I'm sure we all can remember the first time we assembled one.  From that first puzzling assembly, it was the start of new love.  

In the nearly two years of this pandemic, jigsaw puzzles have become a new source of entertainment with family and friends.  The pandemic has also brought many other puzzlers from around the world together. 

I considered myself a person who liked assembling one once in a while. However, on a beach trip in 2017, I got my hands on a beach puzzle.  While I worked on it, I found myself being transported back on the beach.  Recalling the smell, sound of waves, the sand beneath my feet, putting my feet in the water as the water covers them. I remember searching for sea life such as starfish and sea anemonies. 

Upon completion, all that excitement vanished.  It wasn't until 2018 and my previous job that my spark exploded into what it is today. I used to be a housecleaner for the independent residents. While I would clean their cottages, I noted many of them had puzzles. Some had puzzle boards; some did them on poster board; others had them just on the table. 

These beautiful people made such an impression on me that for my 33rd birthday, all I wanted was a puzzle board and a puzzle. 

Little did I know that my mom got me a puzzle board and hit it at a friend's house so I wouldn't see it.Meanwhile, nine days before my birthday, it was hers. Mom was turning the big 60. I had her gift at another friend's house.  From then on, I created my own puzzle Instagram account. The rest is history.  

I have developed and met many great puzzlers. We have become a family. My fellow puzzle family has opened my eyes to so many different puzzles and other puzzle companies I had never known existed. It's incredible how puzzlers from around the world connect.  An example is that one puzzler started a traveling puzzle. It went from the US then onto Canada, back to the US, then to Ireland, and now back to Canada. 

Whether you are a beginner or a pandemic, or a lifelong puzzler, I hope you can find a twinkle and spark in whatever image you have on your table, board, or other forms of assembly. So may this time and season bring you to a  store, online site, or create your work of art and piece it together. 

My concluding thought comes from a dear puzzle friend. She always says; Every piece of a puzzle has a purpose, just like in life." So let's add yet, one more piece of the puzzle into our lives.