Puzzling addiction

Amid all the aches and pains that defined the year 2020, I came upon a critical outlet to help soothe my frazzled nerves: jigsaw puzzles. I know I’m not the only one who has turned to this childhood favorite and sentimental throwback mind-teaser to help pass some of the time at home while the pandemic rages all around us.

https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2020/puzzles-sales-soar.html

While others may dabble in this trend, for me it’s become an addiction. It started when I found an unopened puzzle I had given my mother-in-law as a Christmas gift two years earlier: It was a Dowdle puzzle, the brand that Costco loves to sell by the pallet-fulls. An SF Giants puzzle, 100 pieces! (Oops, guess I didn’t notice that it was a kiddie puzzle when I bought it) Well, I knocked it out in about an hour. By then the bug had pretty much infected me.

I bought another Dowdle puzzle, then another, and another. Then another. Holy shit, WTF else am I addicted to?

So since just July when this bout with jigsaw madness began, I’ve completed 18 puzzles. And spent a crapload of money on them too. However, I’m working on a Where’s Waldo puzzle now, which just may cure my addiction as the atrocious beast is driving me nuts rather than calming my nerves.

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Finished 13 puzzles plus five from the National Parks box — still have Grand Teton and Bryce Canyon to go.