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This image has come to me over and over.

Jigsaw puzzles are a challenge I love to conquer. Completing one, the process, and finishing is inspiring, fun, and very satisfying. Finding a piece that fits into a long unfilled spot brings a surge of satisfaction which fuels the continued pursuit of the completed puzzle.

The picture on the box, the end goal, is always a guide; a clear idea of what the completed puzzle will be.

The joy, for me, is noticing the shapes and contours of each piece. As much as the fractional image of each piece, the positive and negative shapes of the pieces and how they fit together is equal to the nuanced colors in the image on the tiny piece.

I name and group the shapes as much as the images. Obvious are the corners and edges, everyone does that. I have groupings of right and left knobs and inlets, double knobs which look like two armed square little men, etc..

I often find the fractional image to be nothing like I had imagined from the picture on the box, BUT, it will have an unusual configuration, the negative or positive of which awaits its perfect match.

The puzzle arrives as a jumble of separate, seemingly unrelated pieces. They are ALL there at the outset. (I know, jigsaw lovers have all had the experience of the ONE missing piece…usually only if it’s a re-do or you have a cat.) You pour them out on the table and start to organize them. You always know they will all fit together to create THE PICTURE ON THE BOX.

Your LIFE has NO picture on the box.

We spend our youth TRYING to fit the pieces in our life together and we have a picture in our minds of what the picture on the box SHOULD be.

Then, something interrupts or disrupts that puzzle completion. Then, you just can’t find the next piece that fits. You get angry or scared or you are ashamed. You get mad at the universe for taking the pieces you need to complete the PICTURE ON THE BOX.

This is a FORK in the road. This fork in the road is a CHOICE, a DECISION that must be made. OR

You can choose the path with NO PICTURE ON THE BOX.

This is a metaphor for aging and how we approach getting older, getting old, and eventually physical death.

The path with NO picture on the box will be complete WHEN IT IS. It could be tomorrow. It could be 60 years from now. All you can do is fit the pieces that you have today. You begin to see a completely DIFFERENT PICTURE than you had pictured in your youth. It’s NOTHING like that. It’s PERFECT in fact. It’s ONE-OF-A-KIND. It’s a picture that was never before seen. It’s YOUR LIFE today.

Your life is an accumulation of moments that fit together to create the YOU of TODAY. Tomorrow you will be NEW. The OLD of you will fade or die or fall off but there’s always a NEW you coming through.

If you choose the first path at the fork; if you choose the PICTURE ON THE BOX of OLD, DECREPIT and VALUE-LESS, that WILL BE the final picture on the box.

If you choose just to fit the pieces you have together and find joy when two fit together, you will create a life unseen before.

I’ve been understanding something recently that has surprised me….we don’t know what we’re doing until it’s done.

It feels counterintuitive; I think it’s counter-cultural, more than that. We’ve been conditioned to set specific goals and pursue them, like the PICTURE ON THE BOX. Think, ACHIEVEMENT, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, CAREER, FINANCES and what we believe they look like….that’s the PICTURE ON THE BOX.

I say, put the pieces you have in front of you together TODAY. Live TODAY and TOMORROW, if it comes, will be a NEW PICTURE ON THE BOX.

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live.” The Dalai Lama