The mysterious case of the missing puzzle piece
I LOVE puzzles. Next to Korean dramas, they are one of my favourite ways to decompress and just let my mind rest. [Move over, adult colouring books!]
They are also a perfect pastime during our long cold winter months, when I avoid leaving the house as much as possible.
Once a puzzle is completed, I glue it together, frame it and turn it into wall art. Tada!!
While on the hunt for something completely unrelated, I recently came across two sets of puzzles in our basement storage closet. Although clearly not new, they were neatly packaged in plastic bags inside what at this point I could merely assume was their original box.
During our most recent house move several years ago, the box was likely put there and had since obviously been forgotten. It’s been so long that I don’t even remember purchasing it.
As is the norm for puzzles, the box contained images showing me the finished results I were to expect upon completion. It also declared in bold letters that each puzzle consisted of 1000 pieces.
In addition to the above mentioned was another vital piece of information: The recommended age.
After having confirmed that by general standards I was indeed old enough to take on this challenge, I forged ahead.
As earlier mentioned, the puzzles were clearly not new. Which is no surprise. I usually get puzzles second hand. This adds some suspense to the whole experience because you can never be 100% certain that certain pieces won’t be missing. Yes I know, I’m a serious risk taker. Living on the edge and all that.
But we digress…
So there I was eager to get started. I completed the first puzzle without any major incident and the result was indeed one of the images depicted on the outside of my box. Success!!
Having come this far, I was determined to turn this 1 out of 2 into a 2 out of 2 and puzzle number two was up.
As the image was coming together piece by piece, I grew increasingly confident to have another winner on my hands.
But then…as I got to the last few pieces, it became apparent that something did not add up. My empty space to leftover puzzle piece ratio was off by exactly 1 piece.
At this point I was far from entering panic mode. After all, it had likely just fallen off the table or was hiding underneath something nearby.
With this thought in mind, I proceeded to inspect my immediate surroundings. But even after lifting this and moving over that, there was no sign of the missing piece.
Deciding that maybe it was time to take a step back from the whole situation, I concluded to wait a few days before doing an even more in depth search around the area.
A few days passed and although I moved on to other things, the issue was by far forgotten. The unfinished puzzle, with its one gaping hole just sitting there in my basement, was a daily reminder of a task not completed.
It was during this time but in another completely unrelated turn of events that I decided to do some reorganizing in our upstairs office.
While doing so, I inevitably came across this little plastic container with small drawers that sits on my desk. The drawers contain small office supplies as well as odds and ends that seem to collect in them and never make it to their proper place. #lifeofachaoticperson
As I looked through one of the drawers, *drumroll please* there is my missing puzzle piece! Just chilling among several misplaced safety pins, some paperclips and other random items.
Although this was most certainly a very pleasant surprise, it prompted much questioning.
Out of 1000 pieces, how did a single puzzle piece randomly end up in a completely different part of the house? Did we maybe have a rebel on our hands that escaped the confines of the plastic bag?
Regardless the amount of head scratching that has gone into this, I have yet to find an answer.
And so, while the little potential escapee has since joined its fellow puzzle pieces, the mystery remains of how it got separated from them in the first place.
Until our next mystery,
~Cee
