If Things Get Puzzling, Then We Puzzle
Friday, February 17th, 2012 at 9:00am -- Caitlin vonHedemann
I was hired at Hannon Hill just over 4 months ago. Exciting stuff to be sure—new workplace, new people, new job, new…challenges. Just across from my desk sat an unfinished puzzle. You likely don’t know me well, so let me tell you, I happen to like puzzles. Logic puzzles, math problems and riddles, I am a full on nerd in that respect, and a good old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle really takes the cake for me. It’s not a reflection on my childhood or long puzzle marathons with my grandparents. I just like them. They’re pretty. They have a finite solution. I think it’s really that immediate sense of gratification you get when you locate the right piece and it just snaps into place. Not much in this world more satisfying than that.
So back to this puzzle. I came to learn in my first days that it had been sitting there, unfinished, for at least 6 MONTHS. No one really could pinpoint for sure how long, but it had at least been since April. APRIL.
It is of a Degas painting, one of his series on ballerinas and the original painting apparently hangs in the Louvre. You would think, “Oh ok, lots of characters, figures, impressionist brush strokes, easy enough”, right? WRONG. Two-thirds of this thing is stage and background. BROWN stage and background. The subtle variations were beyond comprehension at first glance and clearly had broken the puzzle spirit that may have previously existed here at Hannon Hill.
Well, needless to say, Challenge Accepted.
Instead of ping-ponging or playing Rock-Paper-Scissors, I took my mental breaks at the puzzle table. Soon we had rallied a crew to fight the good fight and get the puzzle finished, if only to not have to look at it anymore. “Puzzle Friday” was spawned, with at least four of us huddled around the table for the last hour or so of work, making small progress snap by snap.
It became a moral imperative for me—finish this puzzle or I could not keep my job. I could not live with the shame. I will admit I stayed well past the time the office emptied out on more than one occasion working on it. Many times out of frustration I dreamed about throwing something at the actual painting in the museum if I ever made it to Paris.
The months passed—yes, more months--and finally, oh finally, WE GOT IT DONE (see photographic proof). Still can’t believe it. And as much as we protested to the contrary, all the pieces were actually there. This puzzle has since been glued together, never to be broken apart. Once framed it is to be hung in a place of honor.
So puzzles are now kind of our thing. We built a dedicated puzzle table. And have maintained Puzzle Fridays. The trick now is keeping ourselves in challenging enough puzzles so we don’t finish them too quickly….
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