Puzzled

I'm constantly amazed at how much Kiera is like me. Sometimes I am happy that she picked up one of my traits and then sometimes... well... sometimes, I decide that I need to apologize to people from my past.

Let me start from the beginning.

When I was around Kiera's age, I remember playing card and board games in school with a couple of my friends, Crystal and Tina.

Sitting on the floor in the corner of our classroom, we often played Uno. Now, I have been told that I used to get irritated when I lost and would throw my cards down. I might have also been a little impatient when we played Uno... and let's go ahead and add in a bit of a competitive streak.

Fast forward to playing games with my child. Let's just say she takes no prisoners and isn't happy when she loses. We are going to work on that.

Saturday, I decided that since she was getting a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house that I would get a puzzle.

I had this idea that we would sit around the table, laughing, eating snacks, and work on a puzzle. In my head, it was similar to a Norman Rockwell scene.

I picked up a 1,000 piece puzzle. Yes, I said a 1,000 piece. I might have overestimated our first family puzzle.

It started well. I opened the bag and dumped the pieces on the table. From there we began to sort them. I began to put the outside pieces to one side.

Kiera, on the other hand, would grab one random piece, find it on the picture and want to place it and work from it.

"We are never going to finish this!" She declared at one point.

"Well, I didn't think we would finish it today," I said while laughing.

"Probably not going to finish it this year," Aaron stated.

"Look," I said beginning to defend my purchase. "It was 1,000 pieces or a 100 piece puzzle."

They both looked at me and without hesitation said at the same time, "100 pieces."

Kiera huffed as she tried to fit pieces together. "Where are the rest of the flower pieces?"

I tried to explain that it usually worked best if we started with the outside and worked our way in.

There was a sigh from her area as she yanked another mismatched puzzle piece apart.

We lasted about 30 minutes. During that time, I realized the family activity I had pictured in my mind was going to turn out differently.

Kiera took a black sharpie to the box and marked out one of the zeros on the box changing the 1,000 to 100. She then laid on a pile of pillows and stared at the wall.

It is day two of the puzzle and currently, the bottom of the puzzle is approximately ten inches longer than the top.

We are making fun memories and can even laugh at some of the antics from the last couple of days.

I have learned a few things during this time though. First, always start with a smaller puzzle and work your way up.

Second, as I stated before, I need to apologize to my two grade school friends for the way I acted when we played games. Moments like those become a little clearer when there is a mini version of you gloating over her win or flinging her cards down on the table.

And last, I won't be buying any 1,000 piece puzzles in the near future.

Rowonna McNeely her husband, Aaron are regular volunteers in the community, and have their hands full with their daughter, Kiera, along with three dogs and one cat.

Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.