My passion for Jigsaw Puzzles is like my passion for Genealogy

I start yet another puzzle I reflect on exactly why I enjoy putting them together.

Is it because I like the pretty pictures?  Well, I do choose ones I like, but I don’t think that’s the reason?

Do I like the satisfaction of completing a project?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  Putting the last piece in the puzzle makes me happy, but at the same time kinda depresses me, because I know then it’s finished and there’s nothing left to do on it.

If you look at the picture, I think of the completed part of the puzzle as the completed part of my research.  Those lines, filed and documented; the lines I am certain are correct and where they belong.  The pieces in the middle that are complete are those families I have well documented but don’t quite fit yet!  There is still work to do on these.  And those scattered pieces and the ones in the box?  Those are all the clues I’ve found, on somebody else’s work on the internet, or references in books or files I’ve come across.

What I think I really like about working my puzzles is it is my reflection time.  This is the time I take away from my desk and books, away from the mundane tasks I really should be doing, and just take “Linda time!”  I reflect on what’s ahead, what’s behind and what’s urgent in my life.  I reflect on things like why I find one person on various documents well after his death?  Were there really two of them?  If so where did the second one come from?  and when?
it seems, are my second addiction!  In addition to being addicted to my research, I’m also addicted to jigsaw puzzles.  The more pieces, the happier I am.  If I have a 500 piece puzzle, I’ll finish it in two days ~ a 2,000 piece puzzle?  I’m as happy as a pig in  a poke!  That may take me a week or two!

See the comparison to my other addiction?  The more pieces I’m juggling, the happier I am.  If I were only concentrating on one line, it would be too much like a job.  Having a variety of things to look for keeps me happy.  When I go to a library, I have my list ~

Look for this divorce, that death date, remarriage for his widow, etc. and check the tax lists and city directories for the last year they appeared. Check February 1903 for an obituary, maybe even the month before and after. . . . and the list goes on and on!

The fun thing about going through those records, is the fact that something for somebody else may pop up! and it’s the piece I need to finish off that section of the genealogy!  Now if the entire family was complete (and who’s is??) what fun would I have if that surname popped up unexpectedly?

As in genealogy, the piece must fit exactly for the picture to appear correctly.  Finding a name that fits, but the facts don’t is like finding a puzzle piece that is almost, but not quite the shape you need.  Unless the fact is documented, it doesn’t fit, in my estimation, and unless the colors and shape match, it doesn’t fit in a jigsaw puzzle!

Each passion I have gives a satisfaction that is similar.  When a puzzle is complete, I can sit back and look at the fun thing I just created, just as when I find an entire family line I didn’t know existed!

A puzzle should remain just that ~ something that needs the spaces filled in and something that can be completed in time, so you can move on to the next one.