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Ravensburger 1000 pc "John Deere Then and Now" |
This puzzle attracted me to a story about what could have been. I imagine the two young men as my nephews. The man in the plaid shirt is Ben and the one with safety glasses working on the combine is Sean. The older man by the tractor is my brother-in-law, Gord. They even look like the real men in my family. They were and are John Deere fans and even the presence of a pig goes back to the days when my sister and her family first started farming... thirty five years ago.
Then I got to imagine the children in the story. They are are what make the story "that which could have been". My older nephew died in 2017 when he was 26 in a tragic vehicle accident. I would like to imagine, when I am looking at this puzzle picture, that it was his children (had he still been around to have them).
When I finished the puzzle, I discovered that I was missing two pieces. It seemed appropriate. This inspiring family of mine is missing two pieces, two combine drivers are no longer in the picture. My older nephew Ben and my sister Jennifer (who died in a collision on her motorcycle last summer).
Sometimes when I am missing puzzle pieces, I do my artistic best to make them blend in so upon first glance, the holes aren't noticeable. But in my family, these two big holes are far from unnoticeable. So instead of covering them up, I just put some green sticky note paper behind the holes and taped up the puzzle. I can't replace those missing pieces in my family... why try to replace them in the puzzle that is the picture of that family?
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| This is my sister... my most recent missing piece |
