Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
Along with old age comes the expectation of doing jigsaw puzzles. Many of our friends do them regularly and I even wrote a story about an advent jigsaw puzzle fiasco last Christmas. At that time, we bought a special table just for jigsaw puzzles with extra drawers to separate the pieces, and we have been using it ever since. They can be quite addictive, and we have been catching up on many puzzles we have been gifted with. We hadn’t gotten around to putting them together because the table we were using for it was bad for my back. The new table works much better, so we have been playing catch-up.
Back in California, we were active in our local senior center and there were many, many puzzles being assembled there. I would wander through the room that was set up for puzzles and often got trapped in there seeking out the easy piece to find that often times didn’t turn out to be that easy. It was fun but their table was also not good on my back, and we had to complete the puzzles standing up. There was one lady named Kathy that was always in there chipping away at the next new puzzle once we completed one. I used to tease her that I was going to take one of the pieces home with me and then bring it back after the puzzle was almost finished. I never did it but I was often accused of having that elusive piece that she had spent hours looking for.
Last May, I wrote a story about a car show at Gasoline Alley where I could have won a framed puzzle featuring ’50s cars. Included in this one was my actual car, representing Studebaker in the ’50s. I didn’t need it because I had two unassembled puzzles and a larger poster of the same picture hanging in my garage. I bought the original jigsaw the first time I ever saw it, when I was a working docent at the California Auto Museum in Sacramento. I put that one together and left it on my workbench for years, until we decided to move to Oklahoma. I put it back in the box and moved it with everything else we had shipped in a giant moving van. I was gifted another of the same puzzle and didn’t put either one together since we didn’t have a good puzzle desk. After we got an appropriate puzzle desk, we went to town on the backload. After assembling several other puzzles, I figured it was time to reassemble my favorite jigsaw puzzle ever. I had planned to Mod Podge that treasure way back in California, but never got around to it. I planned to frame it just like the one I could have won at the car show. Having given that one up, I figured I’d better frame this one.
So, that puzzle has been put together again, and it is taking up my new jigsaw table. I need to get some Mod Podge and put it in a frame this time. I plan to do that soon, I even had the Mod Podge in my hand at Michaels, but I didn’t buy it. Let’s see how long I can procrastinate on this one. Its presence on my puzzle table is preventing me from doing any more jigsaws, so I’m motivated to get it done this time. After gluing the pieces of the puzzle together, I have to purchase a frame, and then I have to figure out where to hang it.
To add to the motivation, my wife and her friend will be doing the Advent jigsaw again this year, so I can’t put it off any further than Thanksgiving. I hope it doesn’t take me that long. I really want to finish it. It’s probably been about 8 to 10 years since I first bought this puzzle and I’m pretty tired of putting this off for so long. Jigsaw puzzles are supposed to give us seniors relaxation and joy, not all this anxiety. Getting older can be so difficult. I suppose that is why old people like to complain so much. I get it now.
