Puzzling Puzzles

An email arrived from our niece-in-law in Vermont. It read,

"Something special is on it's way to you. The record is 36 hours."

Attached was a picture of Richard's brother, Bob, sitting at a table with something spread out in front of him but I couldn't tell what.

A couple of days later a package arrived in the mail. A jigsaw puzzle of Norristown, Pennsylvania where Richard and Bob had grown up. It's a topographical map with lots of colors and lines. Thank God for the Schuykill River running through the middle of it or we wouldn't have a chance.

I emailed back. "Puzzle's here. Game on."

Richard went to work looking for the edges then he sorted all 440 pieces by color. I love jigsaw puzzles. I grew up in a home where we were never without a puzzle on a card table in the living room. I'd sit for hours. The more difficult the better. I won't stop until it was finished. I went to work. Thirty six hours, piece of cake.

Inch by inch the border came together. Words and landmarks fell into place and waited for me to find their spot. Blue river ran across the map grounding the puzzle. Richard colorized the pieces over and over again as I moved them around, picking them up, putting them back.
"Where is Hickorytown?" I asked. I'd put the words together put didn't know where to place them.
"I don't know." Richard answered.
"You grew up here. I came from Ohio. Why don't you know?" Richard just came back from a trip home. It should be fresh in his mind. I kept my nose to the grindstone. The clock was ticking.

More than once I accused the Vermonters of keeping a few pieces just to torment us a little bit. I knew they hadn't but it fun to pick on them. Finally Richard and I celebrated as I tapped the last piece into place.

I'd been tracking our time. Ten hours. I blew the record out of the park. Taking a picture of the completed puzzle as evidence, I quickly emailed it to the family. Excitedly they turned over the record to us. Giving each other a high five, we happily accepted.

Sadly, we stared at the puzzle not wanting to take it apart. It was a work of art, consuming every waking hour. We'd won the contest! Now what were we going to do with our time?