April 16th, 2020

I started this dang puzzle somewhere around the 30th of March.  It is still taking up space on the kitchen table and remains unfinished.  You'd think even I would have been able to complete this thing by now. You would be wrong.

I did a quick look backwards and found that my first post about the virus was on March 11th.   The first case in the US was January 20th.  Today is April 16th.  The Great Quarantine of course started on different dates in different states but with very few exceptions (there are still a few states holding out on the idea of an official shut down) most  of us have been "stay safe at home" for at least a month and most of us longer.  

Why haven't I finished this puzzle?  It's not as if I haven't had the time for heaven's sake. I certainly have had the time to do all sorts of other things.  

I've cleaned and tidied and done a lot of organization and re-organization.  I've gone on a lot of walks and read  (and sometimes re-read) quite a few books. I edited a book for a writer friend and I cut down a tree for heaven's sake! 

I've practiced the piano a lot and dusted and polished and scraped paint from old window sills.  I've taken loads of photos and kept in touch with friends and family via email, text and Skype.

 I did not nearly as much baking as I thought I would (thank goodness!)  But I've done a Pilates workout nearly every day from home (yay me!) and at least a ton of laundry and ironing (how two people create as much laundry as we do is a mystery).

There are a only few things left to tidy and organize.  Things like the guest room closet that has somehow become a repository for anything I do not know what else to do with.  I have vowed to figure out what to do with those things and then do it.  So there's that remaining.  The pantry would probably appreciate a good tidy-up.  And there is still a little bit of work left to do in the utility room - boxes to be gone through. 

But that's about all that's left to fill my time these days. With the exception of this puzzle.

Maybe there is some deep psychological reason why I have not finished this puzzle. Maybe it will be the final thing before the Time of the Great Quarantine is over.  Perhaps this puzzle will be the marker between this time and that.  It could be that the day the final piece goes in and the puzzle is complete will be the day we go back to normal.

No wait.  Our life will never be what it once was.  But it will be something else.  Something new and different.  So I guess maybe that's it.  The final piece of this puzzle will be the last piece of this transitional life before we start out on the new one. 

Or maybe I just really suck at puzzles.