Pieces of the Puzzle

A few nights ago, my husband and I decided to have a date night in. We ordered takeout, turned on one of our favorite jazz playlists, and broke out a puzzle I had brought home from the library.

Only this was no ordinary puzzle. It was a puzzle that came with a challenge.

Unlike a standard puzzle, there was no image on the box showcasing what lay inside. Instead, pasted to the outside of the burgundy box was a typed note that read, “This

405-piece puzzle took us two hours to assemble. How long will it take you?”

Well, say no more! Challenge accepted.

As we carefully removed the twine that was tied around the box, we mused over the circumstances in which the previous owner of the puzzle had found themselves on that fateful day when it took them 120 minutes to complete this puzzle.

Who were they? How many of them were there? Were they timing themselves on purpose? Were they having fun- enjoying drinks, snacks, and good music like we were? Or were they cutthroat, all business?

As we pried the lid off the box, a magazine cut-out came into focus. It was an old Winston cigarette ad titled “Pajama Sunday.” (Can you still say “cigarette” in the newspaper? I guess we’ll find out!)

It soon became clear that this ad image, seemingly from the 1970’s, was the puzzle we were to put together. Even better. (If you know Jake and me, even tangentially, you know we’re suckers for mid-century.)

Now, at this point in the story you might be thinking, “Kirsten, your articles are supposed to be about the library, where is the through-line here?”

Ahhh…now here’s where the story gets good.

There’s something I neglected to tell you earlier. There was a second sticker pasted to the cover of the puzzle box. And it read, “Donated from the personal collection of the late Ruth E. Maurer, local puzzle enthusiast and patron of Wickson Library.”

I didn’t know Ruth on a personal level. But here I am, telling a story about a puzzle she once owned. My hands held the same pieces hers did- and who knows how many countless hands in-between! She loved something and she wanted to share it with her community.

And that’s all the library is, really. It’s a place where a community can come to share things- whether tangible or experiential. There’s nothing at the library that hasn’t been touched by someone else.

Let’s say you checked out a book, found it profound, had a little cry (maybe even shed

a tear that fell on one of the pages- don’t worry, I won’t report you for water damage.) Then you dropped it in the return bin, it went back on the shelf, someone else in our community picked it up, took it home, found it profound, shed a little tear…you get the idea.

It’s kind of comforting, isn’t it? The idea that across Frankenmuth, people are having similar experiences. Experiencing the same triumphs and tribulations, reading the same books, asking the same questions, having the same revelations.

I never knew Ruth E. Maurer, so I have no intention of speaking for her, but based on her puzzle donations, I believe she and I may have reached the same conclusion…

We’re all just pieces of the same puzzle.

(Oh, and if you’re wondering how long it took Jake and me to complete the puzzle…

you’ll just have to come to the library and check it out for yourself!)