What happened to the missing puzzle piece? The argument had been ongoing as far back as I could remember. And at only 8 years old, that meant I could remember all the way back to when I was just a kid. Being as there were only five of us, and I knew the culprit wasn’t me, at least not this time, that only left four suspects — my three brothers and The Sister.
Duke could’ve eaten it, but considering what happened last time, I didn’t really think he wanted to take another trip to the doggie doctor. ‘Course he did eat half the puzzle, but everything came out okay in the end.
Still, that other puzzle had to be thrown away. None of us wanted to waste our time putting together a half-eaten puzzle. We didn’t want to waste time putting together a puzzle missing one piece either, but with 300 pieces, how could we know one was missing?
Guess we could’ve counted them before starting, but that would have been logical. Looking back at those seven magical years we spent growing up on Flamingo Street, logical thinking and us kids didn’t always go together.
How the Friday night tradition began was anyone’s guess. Twin Brother Mark thought it started because one year we all got a gift of a puzzle for our birthday, and they weren’t gonna put themselves together. Older Brother Richard and Big Brother James believed it was Dad’s way of teaching us teamwork. The Sister thought it was Mom’s way of making sure us boys played with her.
I knew the real reason. Putting puzzles together was simply fun — even if it’s with your brothers and sister.
Dad’s reason for spending so much time with us assembling puzzles was cleverly veiled. Through this activity, he could teach us one of life’s most important lessons. He told us to always start with finding the four corners. We couldn’t have a complete puzzle without them. They were so important that he gave each one a name: faith, family, work, and health.
It wasn’t until many years later when I had a family of my own that I finally understood just how important those four corners were.
Everything in our lives changed when we moved away from Flamingo — even the Friday night tradition of putting together puzzles. When we left Flamingo, we left behind one of the most important of those puzzle pieces. It was a piece that was lost forever. We left behind Older Brother Richard.
One of the last memories I have of my father before his passing was a smile. He smiled when The Wife squeezed his hand saying, “We’ll always remember what you said was important in life: faith, family, work, and health.” Those are the four corners to life. Missing just one of those pieces and the puzzle remains unfinished.
The Friday night puzzle tradition continues with our two granddaughters, Little One and Sweet Caroline. We’re teaching them to find the four corners first.
Recently they’ve gotten really good at that. Last night they asked why we named the pieces: faith, family, work, and health. The Wife and I shared a sad smile as we replied in unison, “Because they’re the most important ones.”
[Rick Ryckeley has been writing stories since 2001. To read more of Rick’s stories, visit his blog: storiesbyrick.wordpress.com.]
