Our family continues to solve puzzles. The other day we were looking for a crossword to do together on Zoom and had to stretch back before the summer of 2020 to find one not already completed. We have collectively plowed through them for long stretches, for hundreds of days without missing a day. Then we all get busy, it goes unattended, and the streak starts over. 

 

Recently, we explored a new kind of challenge called Connections. Sixteen words pop up in a grid, and you need to lump them into four groups with a common theme. Over Christmas, we cranked them out for over an hour, and our combined imaginations made it fun, with surprisingly few mistakes. 

 

The other day in church, the minister dumped a bag of toys to solve on the floor. Children came scurrying forward to put puzzles together, with no promise of a reward other than having done it. 

 

I memorized their eagerness, like food in my backpack. 

 

When problems clunk in my path, like knee pain, or a computer glitch, I can err on the side of quitting. But what if I could have that childlike hankering to jump first and worry later?

 

Or maybe skip worrying entirely.