A Simple Way to Enjoy Each Other's Company

My family stumbled on a way to spend some quiet bonding minutes with each other in the form of puzzles.

My husband is a great thinker – as is my youngest daughter. One day he was doing a logic puzzle and she joined him. Together, they discovered that they not only loved this activity, but that it was something special that they could do “Just together.”

I don’t particularly like logic puzzles. But I do like word searches. My oldest daughter has a couple of word search books and so we have started doing them together in the last half hour before her bedtime on many occasions. It’s neat because there often isn’t a lot of time to start another activity, but this is something that fits in that time frame and that we can share together. Sometimes we end up talking, other times we just listen to music while we work our brains, and still other times we just lay side by side working on the puzzles. But the neat thing is… we’re together and we’re bonding over something.

Now I’m starting to try crossword puzzles as well and my husband will help me figure out the tough ones at bedtime. And I keep a sudoku book in the car for when we travel.

Puzzle books.

We never went out looking for a hobby like puzzles. We simply stumbled across it and it’s started to become a fun little side-activity for our family. Different puzzles that fit our different strengths and personalities. Bonding time. Time to use the minds that God gave us. Time to slow down, debrief, and just be together.

It’s really been fun and a great discovery and it reminds me that it’s often the simple things that hold us close to each other and create some of the most tender memories.

We’re creating a tradition. I hope someday that my kids will look back and say, “Mom remember when we used to lay on the bed and work on that puzzle together?” I hope that it will be something we can do well into adulthood.

I plan on buying more puzzle books and keeping them around so we always have one on hand because I’m so thankful for this one little thing that can simply pull a couple of us together and allow us to spend time in one another’s company. A time and moment that doesn’t have to be a deep discussion, a huge laugh-fest, or an intense time – just a moment spent enjoying one another’s company. And for that, I’m so grateful.