My Missing Puzzle Piece

Ever since I was a little girl, reading books has always given me a heartwarming feeling.  I lost myself in books, and I would pretend to be the characters I was reading about. Whether that be Cinderella, The Cat in the Hat, or even The Frog and the Toad, I was fascinated by their unique character.  It made me want to read more.  I was finally being introduced to something new, which was deeper than my plain, personal imagination.  My imagination as a child was wild; however, I feel as if my ideas were always impressionable. My cousins and friends were always pleased with the make-believe games I suggested we should play together. 

One day, when I was about four years old, my grandmother introduced me to something I had never played with before.  She picked me up from preschool on a cold winter day when she told me she had a surprise for me.  As a child, my mind was pacing back and forth, wondering and fantasizing all the amazing things it could possibly be.  I was asking her if it was a new bicycle or a new Barbie doll. I kept trying to guess this “surprise,” expecting it to be the best thing that had ever happened in my life.  I kept bothering her and interrogating her but she told me I must wait until we get to her house to find out. When we finally arrived at her house,  I saw it there, lying on the counter.  Man, was I disappointed.  I might’ve even thrown a fit if I didn’t love her so much.  My childhood dreams were shattered when I learned a JigSaw Puzzle was my special surprise. I couldn’t believe she thought I would enjoy a game of problem solving after I had just finished a day at preschool.  I wanted to do something fun! Within time, I learned that doing puzzles with my grandmother was fun, and it turned out to be something we always did together.  

We would complete a one-hundred piece puzzle once a week together after I was picked up from school.  She did most of the work in the beginning, I just remember flipping all the pieces so that the colored side was facing up and sorting the end pieces and inside pieces away from each other.  I wasn’t much help when it came to piecing the puzzle together. Later on through the weeks,  I realized that the puzzle pieces were actually easy to put together. I found myself focusing great attention to the detail on the picture I was trying to build.  I agree with Malcom X’s statement, “With every succeeding page, I also learned of people and places and events from history.” I became exceedingly good at putting the pieces together and developed strong memory skills, along with problem solving skills. I felt smart and it encouraged me to take on bigger challenges throughout my childhood.  Without my grandmother I would've never expanded my capabilities. She was my missing puzzle piece.

As I grew older, I found myself singing along to music in the car. It came to the point where I would catch myself singing all the words to a song.  I was running errands with my dad one day and he acknowledged my new skill. He told my mom that he couldn’t believe I was singing along with every song on the radio.  This was just something I found entertaining and didn’t think it was such a big deal. This random comment from my father influenced me to become more fluent with music.  I started taking piano lessons at the age of eight.  I was amazed by the way the notes looked on a sheet of paper, and I was enlightened with the way each key played its own unique note. It wasn’t long before I memorized all the names of the notes and could play a song fluently.  I relate to Sherman Alexie’s statement, “The words themselves were mostly foreign, but I still remember the exact moment when I first understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph.”  I wasn’t reading paragraphs, but I was reading what felt like a new language. I went to these lessons once a week, and I practiced every day after school or whenever I passed my piano. My piano was sitting in our living room, so it was always right in front of me.  I couldn’t help but walk up to my piano and play My Country Tis of Thee or Carol of The Bells.  It was the only songs I had memorized, so those songs were always played by default when it came to showing off at family gatherings. I noticed that my new hobby had made an impact on my grades.  I got straight A’s my whole third grade year.  I was in the advanced classes during my student career, but I started getting B’s as the coursework got harder. I like to believe that playing the piano was a major component of my exceptional grades because it is said that playing an instrument helps a person excel with booksmarts.  Music shaped my literacy by putting my mind into a different perception.  I was memorizing symbols that made beautiful melodies on the piano. When I memorized a song and played it perfectly, it just motivated me to do the best I can in any aspect of my life.  

I believe literacy is more than just reading a book. There is so much more that literacy has to offer than just words. My literacy sponsors, which were puzzles and music, enhanced my ability to understand.  I was introduced to new skills that have morphed me into the student I am today. In addition, it encouraged me to not give up when things become challenging. Without these key experiences, I would not be as confident in my memorization and problem solving skills as I am today.  

Works Cited 

Alexie, Sherman, “Superman and Me: The Joy of Reading and Writing.” Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1998. Web.1 September 2018. http://articles.latimes.com/1998/

X, Malcolm. “Learning to Read.” Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Drowns. 3rd ed., Bedford/St Martin’s, 2017. pp. 106-115