At a cost of one dollar, the children’s book was a real steal. I just checked online, and the list price is $75.
The reason for the steep price tag of Shirley Barber’s Martha B. Rabbit Jigsaw Book is that it contains seven 48-piece jigsaw puzzles to go along with seven adventures of Martha B. Rabbit and Tabitha Cat.
Barber’s forest illustrations are richly hued and charming. Her stories involve friendship, helping others, planning ahead, sharing, and having the last laugh at the expense of three tricksters.
There is one tiny flaw in my bargain buy; one piece of one puzzle is missing.
This imperfection may be the reason why this book was left to linger on the shelf at the used bookstore. If you’re a jigsaw puzzle aficionado, you may have felt the frustration of trying to complete a puzzle whose pieces are not all there. We’ve been robbed of the sense of completion. The puzzle looks disfigured and off-kilter because of this incompleteness.
But I chose to purchase the book because of the flaw rather than in spite of it.
Even though my granddaughter won’t be ready for this book for a couple of years, I see the value of the lessons the missing piece can hold.
- Life isn’t perfect, but it’s filled with rich colors and interesting beings.
- We burden ourselves when we believe we can’t be happy unless and until every detail falls neatly into place.
- I wonder…what else could the missing piece look like instead of just a warm brown to fill in the fawn’s side? Could the fawn have stripes like a zebra? Might she have a polka dot blanket draped over her? Let’s cut out paper puzzle pieces to fit and then color many different options. Then we’ll decide which one we like the best.
- The most important lesson in the story I’ll tell baby girl is this: Find joy in what we have. We likely will always be missing something or someone, even lots of somethings and many someones. If we give our constant focus to the missing piece, we forget that we’ve been blessed with seven stories and puzzles that can bring us hours of enjoyment.
Be grateful for all that we have and be thankful even for the missing piece of the puzzle that has brought us together in this post.
Lovely thoughts Norma, thank you! I hope you are well and enjoying the summer.
Thank you, Mary Beth. It was so nice to hear from you!
What amazing advice. It will hopefully stay with me for the rest of my life.
Seeing the positive and and accepting the negative as blessings is a good thought for me.
Thank you Norma for your beautiful story and outlook on life and acceptance.
Just completed 11 very large puzzles between 48 and 100 pieces with Matthew’s 7 year old daughter. The puzzles covered half of our kitchen floor!
It was great fun and they were not put away until their visit ended. I am glad for this story and the lesson it teaches.
Thank you!
I have never been good at jigsaw puzzles. It brings me neither joy nor calm. I’m good at many things, but seeing how things “fit together” is not one of them! Maybe I should practice these puzzles before Avery is old enough to do them!
Ruth, as always, it’s lovely to hear from you. I truly appreciate your support of my writing.
I loved this message Norma! I needed the reminder that everything doesn’t need to be perfect in my house before I invite friends to visit! I also love that you saw the value in this book although it wasn’t perfect! I worry that each generation has more and more belongings and values things less and less.
I can still remember Grandma Elizabeth getting upset when my brother’s boys left their bicycles lying around out in the rain to get rusty. “They need to learn to take care of their things!”
Dearest Norma,
Another home run on your amazing ability to see the TOTAL PICTURE in life.
Thanks for hitting it out off the ballpark<3<3<3
Judy
Thank you, my friend.