Over the past year our family has solved crossword puzzles. The New York Times publishes a trove of them, and it turns out that the collective experience of sixteen people comes in handy. Well, seventeen if you count 

Olympia smiling at us. Matt is good with the musical genre. "Four letters for Musician van Halen of rock group van Halen?" Micah is a pilot and understands flying. "Airport code in Alabama, Micah?" Lukas is a principal engineer and can chime in around circuitry, while Zack and John are knowledgeable about the Bible. "City where a miracle happened in the New Testament?” We all leaped at any chance to ask Ben about Pixar, or Disney flicks. "Who did the voice for Mr. Incredible?" Damian is an ER doctor and knows a thing or two about anatomy. Hosanna studied finance and is conversant in that lingo. "Who holds the purse strings in a Fortune 500?"

 

Mercy often started the puzzles, filling in a third of the squares before asking for help. Someone would open a zoom and anyone who had a few minutes would jump in. This was remarkable to me, considering the span of 

time zones between California and Europe. Now it is stretched wider with Hosanna and Damian in Fairbanks, while Lukas and Amy are in Ireland. Our current stats include 1227 solved, with an unbroken streak of 301. 

 

That is a passel of solutions.

 

In their actual day jobs everyone has been tackling other issues. Chara quit her high pressure job in advertising to join Mike in their business Smith & Diction, which was recently featured in PhillyMag. Amy left a stressful 

position doing all things tech at a Christian school, and she often does sound at church. Zack is completing a course in coding, the same one that landed jobs for Matt and Mercy, while also being an RA in a high school dorm. Matt and Mercy are closing on a house that has a pink bathtub. Olly is eager to try it out. Lukas is installing a facility in Dublin for Riot, and was quoted in an article by Sports Video Group. Micah is close to getting his instrument rating along with his commercial license. Nicole is in ROTC and hiked 9 miles in just over 2 hours carrying 35 lbs on her birthday. Hosanna and Damian took on the logistics of a move to Fairbanks, which involves living in a climate where you must plug in your car to keep the oil from freezing at night. Well, during the day too. Hope va très bien in Grenoble, and recently became president of the club to welcome international students. She threw une soirée Halloween for a hundred people, somehow fetching enough pumpkins even though she rides the bus. Aurelle está super bien in Madrid, writing papers in Spanish and learning to dance salsa and bachata. Olly learned how to 

spell her name for me. Bella.

 

For those of you not so inclined to word gymnastics, I will mention that Monday crossword puzzles are easier than Sundays'. You can choose the magnitude of difficulty. Thursdays offered their own flare, sometimes 

embedding bonus answers within the grid, or expecting you to cram two letters into one box. It helped us to modify our expectations, to know that there was a trick to be discovered. It made sense to be confused.

 

We have done this voluntarily. There is no carrot, nor stick if we don't finish it. But the challenge has engaged us, during an unsettled time in history. As pandemic rules popped up, then pivoted, we have taken collective comfort from the reliability of a puzzle that has answers should we persevere. Asking for help is more fun than slogging alone. Then there was the ever satisfying blink of CONGRATULATIONS!

 

Our prayer for you, friends, is to resolve some of your own questions. Even if you are confused. Even if you did not choose this level of difficulty. Even if you figured things out yesterday, and the day before. May this season 

of miracles and finding warmth in a dark time be a chance to rediscover that Help is ours for the asking.