Growing up, we were always playing some kind of game. I remember having a running game of tag with my brother every time we entered the house. Only I was always “not included, never ‘it’” forever.

My father taught us every card game he ever heard of, and we picked up others wherever we went. He was very much into chess, collecting sets from every place he visited. I waited for my father to teach me to play chess, but he never taught me more than how to set up the board. He taught my brother, though, and he throws chess books and magazines at my son every chance he gets.

Daddy taught me to play scrabble, and scramble, and word jumbles, word search, crossword puzzles, anagrams, you name the word game, we did it. One summer my mother took my brother and me out West on the train. We visited her college friend Terri in Wyoming, and her Peace Corps buddies in Oakland, threw in a trip to Disney Land, and headed back home. My brother and I shared a thick, 300 page puzzle book on the train. I worked on the word puzzles and the art puzzles, and he did the mazes and mathematical puzzles.

As a family, we tried 3-D puzzles, a chocolate chip and an apple. I never could get very far with either of those, but my brother could solve them. My parents weren’t into jigsaw puzzles, so we didn’t have tables dedicated to those like my cousins and some of my friends.

But when I had kids, I started doing puzzles. First I’d take the kids to the library and work puzzles with them. I found some interesting complicated puzzles at the museum, like the tower of hanoi, and tangrams. Those had me captivated for hours. This was a new puzzle for me: the spatial/logic puzzle, and I took to it like I’ve taken to swimming.

Last year Curtis caught me working a puzzle with the little kids and told me to get my own puzzle. I said ok, and procrastinated. He bought me a 500 piece puzzle, which we set out on the coffee table in the family room and had a couple months of family togetherness working that puzzle.

That was a hard puzzle, especially in our dark family room. So many of the pieces were dark; it was hard to distinguish between the water and the buildings, but I had so much fun sorting the pieces and putting them in little bags based on their similarity. We had finished the whole puzzle sans one piece, which actually turned up 4 days later when the carpet cleaners came.

My hands have been restless. I have been writing, typing, playing piano, but my hands want more. I have been playing with tangrams with the children, but my hands want more. I’m sure when it gets cooler, I’ll start a knitting/crocheting project, but until then, I have bought a new puzzle.

This one is colorful and easier. It’s only 399 pieces, and is for ages 6 and up. It’s called Noah’s rec room, and I’ll include a picture when it’s finished. Esteban and Joy were so excited when we set the puzzle out on the table yesterday, the first day of school.

Xay said no last night when I asked him to help me, but he gravitated towards the puzzle a little later. This morning, Imani, Joy, Esteban, Xay and I all worked on the puzzle before breakfast. Tonight after I brought Xay home from basketball practice, Yanni told me she had worked on the puzzle, which is a NEVER.

There’s something about a puzzle on a table.