I have this magnificent puzzle hanging on my wall that I made years ago.
I can’t remember exactly but I think it’s 797 pieces
Yes that’s right
797
Because there’s pieces missing.
All sky pieces, one sky piece toward the top and over to the left and two over to the right.
They stick out like sore thumbs and everyone comments on them. Like I hadn’t seen it before.
“Do you know you’re missing a few pieces of your puzzle there?” they ask.
Some even look at the floor to see if somehow they had miracoulsly wormed their way out from between the glass and card backing and fell to the ground. Because obviously it must have happened since last time I vacuumed.
So I just shrug and tell them that I know. And I tell them that they’ve always been missing, even when I framed it, they weren’t there.
This at least stops them looking at the floor.
Quite often they’ll tell me that I should have taken it back and got my money back or got a different puzzle. One with 800 pieces instead of 797.
But I tell them no. I like my 797 piece puzzle.
I like it because it reminds me of life.
Just because life is missing a piece or two you don’t put it back in the box and return it for a refund or a different one or throw it away.
Just because you put a lot of work into life and find out that there’s pieces missing you don’t just scrap it.
You should adapt to life with missing pieces.
You should be making the best of it and be proud of its uniqueness.
It especially reminds me of my life
My life is incomplete, my life is missing a few things, but the views pretty good.
And every now and then you’ll catch me looking around for those missing pieces, it’s a habit I guess.