I read an article recently that was fed to me from one of my various social mediums. Probably Facebook, which is about as close as I get to news these days. That’s scary, I know. Anyway, according to the article, the purchase of puzzles during the coronavirus crisis has gone through the roof. In fact, according to the article, the chance of finding an available puzzle is about as possible as the chance that we will be driving hover cars in our lifetime.

They didn’t have to tell me that. Once I got over the shock of being told that I must remain in my house for the foreseeable future — sometime mid-March, I guess — I went on Amazon to buy a puzzle or two. Ha! There was not a single puzzle of any brand to be found. Well, that’s not exactly true. You could buy a puzzle from a second-hand seller for somewhere in the neighborhood of the cost of your first car. And the price is only that low because there are three pieces missing.

I’m a addicted puzzle constructor. I have been for much of my adult life, but in the past couple of years, I have really taken to it in a big way. I started because I believed (and still do) that it’s good for our brains. I’m spatially challenged, so figuring out just where to put a puzzle piece really makes me think. And thinking is good.

For a while, I was posting a photo of every puzzle I completed. Then it occurred to me that people were likely as interested in seeing my finished work featuring puppy dogs frolicking around peony bushes as they were in seeing my photos of every pie I bake. I stopped posting puzzle photos; I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stop posting pie photos. They’re just too beautiful.

About three weeks ago, I wandered on to White Mountain Puzzles website. I had been routinely checking Amazon’s, Springbok’s, and White Mountain Puzzles’ websites on the off chance that there were once again puzzles available for purchase. Though Amazon and Springbok could offer nothing, White Mountain had some puzzles available. Even in desperation, I have some limits. They have to be in the range of 500 pieces, and I won’t put together a puzzle of a train. I don’t hate trains. I just don’t want to look at a picture of one for the two or three days it takes me to put the puzzle together.

But White Mountain had some kind of cool puzzles. And so I ordered three of them. I got the warning that it would perhaps take a few weeks instead of lickety split like they usually take. No problem, White Mountain. So I have been waiting to receive my puzzles.

In the meantime, Bill and I have put together some of our old puzzles. They get me by, but I was so looking forward to getting my three puzzles in the mail. They didn’t come until 7:30 last night. I was like a little girl waiting for a Santa Claus. Three fresh, new puzzles. Heaven.

As an aside, just for fun, I looked at White Mountain’s website yesterday, and once again, they have no puzzles available. This quarantine has to stop. I can’t live without puzzles.