Glasgow, Scotland

I finished the jigsaw puzzle my mother started

Dear Delyara, Mum loved thousand-piece jigsaws and always chose horrible ones with skies and water where every piece looked identical. She started one shortly before entering hospital and never came home. For two years, it remained half-finished on a board under my bed. This winter, I brought it out. At first, every piece felt like touching unfinished business. Then it slowly became a puzzle again. My grandson helped and was absolutely useless at edge pieces. Tonight, we placed the final piece. Mum had apparently put three pieces in the wrong locations, which made me laugh because she always accused everyone else of doing that. I considered gluing the puzzle permanently. Instead, tomorrow we are taking it apart. Hobbies taught me something grief had resisted: finishing what Mum started does not mean I have to preserve the finished thing forever. We can make another one. Preferably with fewer clouds.