Puzzled- Putting the Pieces Together

 (This story began on post 1/25/21.)

  Lizzy began working on the puzzle right after Mass the next day.  She hadn't done a puzzle in years.  She began sorting through the pieces trying to organize them in possible piles. In her head she could hear her mother's voice from her childhood, "Lizzy find all the straight edge pieces first.  Then build from there."  Lizzy smiled at the memory, and wished with all her heart her mother was still here to help her.  She thanked God for having blessed her life with such a wonderful mother.  

  Before she knew it a few hours had passed by and Lizzy had made little progress with the puzzle.  This was going to take a long time to complete.  Later that afternoon Lizzy's oldest daughter, Renee, stopped by with her kids. " Hey Mom, what are you up to?" Renee asked.

  "Well I'm trying to put this puzzle together.  The puzzle was made just for me and there is a secret message about my life within it. I could really use some help with it."

  "That sounds intriguing.  What do you say guys, do you want to help Grandma find a secret message?"

  "Ya!" the three grandkids shouted back.

  "Great!  I'll go get us some snacks and we can talk and eat while we work on it," said Lizzy.  Time passed quickly as they all talked and laughed that afternoon.  The kids all came up with their own stories about the hidden message Grandma would find.  Lizzy worked on a section that appeared to be stained glass windows.

 "Hey Grandma," began Tommy, "Those pieces look like church windows. Maybe this is a secret message from God."

  Lizzy smiled.  "Well that would make me very happy!"

  "Mom come look at my pieces," said Eva.  "It looks like me when I was little." 

  Renee walked around the table to get a closer look.  "Oh my gosh, that does look like your face, Eva! But it also looks like mine, because you look just like me!"

  "Except I'm cuter!" teased Eva as everyone laughed.

  That was the beginning of many days and weeks and months to follow.  Lizzy worked on the puzzle when time allowed.  At first her husband Jim wasn't too interested, but as time went by the puzzle began to reveal things.  More faces became evident, some were familiar, and some were not. There were lots of symbols as well-- cross, dove, chalice, a cloverleaf, a music note, and a rosary to name a few.  Sometimes the symbols were being held by the different people and sometimes they seemed to connect them. There were lots of different books mixed into the scene as well. Jim enjoyed analyzing what the symbols could mean in regards to each person, and even researched the book covers. Some of the books Lizzy had already read, and the rest became a part of "I want to read that one" collection. Lizzy was surprised when Jim began to read them as well.

  Lizzy's son Nolan and his family also spent time working on the puzzle.  Everyone found themselves in the puzzle.  Nolan was excited and called one evening to let Jim know he had just found one of the books Jim had been researching.  "I've been looking and looking for that book, but I couldn't find it," admitted Jim.

  "Dad the reason you couldn't find it was because it was just published three days ago!" explained Nolan.  Jim was completely amazed.

  When the puzzle was completed Lizzy and Jim glued the pieces down to a piece of cardboard and then framed it.  They hung it on the wall in the dining room where it continued to be a conversation piece for years.  It was amazing that some of the faces that originally were not familiar, became recognizable over time. The only disappointing part of the puzzle was that in the time it took to build it, four pieces had been lost.  It didn't ruin the picture at all, but Lizzy always wished she hadn't lost them. 

  Lizzy had wished the secret message behind the puzzle would have been a more obvious reveal.  Although the she and the family had come up with many different theories, Lizzie never knew for sure which one was closest to the truth.  Lizzy, however, found it was more useful to see the puzzle as inspiration rather than concrete instruction.  

  Then one day when Lizzy and Jim were returning from morning mass they saw a package on their front porch.  Lizzy smiled when she saw it and recognized it immediately. It looked  just like the package she had received so many years ago except there was one thing different.

(to be continued...)

-Susan