One thing I accomplished in 2020 was completing a 1,000 – piece puzzle I received from my parents for Christmas in 2019.
In the early days of the pandemic lockdown in mid-March 2020, I thought it would be a good time to tackle it.
It’s a puzzle showing numerous cereal boxes, most with mid1970s designs, including Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix and my personal favorite of the era, Count Chocula.
Every time I sat at my desk with pieces spread out before me, the exercise reminded me of my favorite episode of “The Twilight Zone.”
Titled “Time Enough at Last,” it starred Burgess Meredith as Henry Bemis, a banker who was eating his lunch in the building’s vault when an H-bomb was detonated.
The vault saved Henry’s life and after surveying the ruins and finding a public library, he discovered he had “time enough at last” to do what he’s never had enough time to do in his life: read.
I think the statute of limitations is up for an episode that first aired in 1959, so I will spoil the shock ending.
As he sits down to get started — amid stacks and stack of books — he breaks his glasses.
I didn’t break my glasses, but it felt like I was in the Twilight Zone for most of 2020.
I’m writing this column before Christmas 2020 so I’m not sure if I will receive another puzzle from my parents. I hope so.
When all the pieces of 2021 fit together, I also hope it forms a prettier picture.
