Guest Blog - Maura's brain
I
t's funny the things you remember about your parents. I remember being confused about my dad over two daily habits he had: He watched the news and he did the crossword puzzle every day. I thought the evening news was boring and, try as hard as I could, I didn't really enjoy doing a crossword puzzle until I was 30 years old. Well, funny thing, I'm now addicted to the news and I do a crossword puzzle (or a part of one) every night before I go to bed. I owe my love of crosswords to one woman: Maura Jacobson.
Her puzzles aren't just brain teasers - they're outright entertaining. She makes me smile week after week. (I bet you can't say that about your Sudoku puzzle.) I've never seen a picture of her before and seeing this one in NY Mag, with the announcement that she's retiring, brought a tear to my eye. She looks like just about the sweetest woman that ever lived with just a hint of mischief in her eyes. Will Shortz call her "a national treasure" and, on that point, I'd have to agree.
~JP Pullos
I've been wanting to comment on this post since I read it because for my usual bevy of reasons. First of all, I admittedly am not a regular 'crossword puzzler'. In fact I stink at them. I am so so jealous of folks who do them, with ease or not because I know that when I even try, I can actually feel my brain working in a way I rarely ever feel. That said, Maura Jacobson is truly remarkable and in that Garrison Keillor kind of way, rather irreplaceable.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I love about this post (and this goes for so many of your posts) is that it really encompasses what I think this blog is about...anything and everything that we love. It's not a shopping list (well, I hope not always anyway) because spending money has little to do with how happy you are. Oh I love shopping, you all know that...but let's face it...that high doesn't last very long. And then what do you have...a big bill and one more thing in your closet. I think I really learned this when I was going through the worst part of my illness. Stuff just meant nothing to me during that time. And in some ways it will never hold the value for me it once did. Do I adore my new phone, bags, shoes etc. ? Of course. I'm not stupid. But in the end, you better be happy just being able to do a crossword puzzle because if you have to keep feeding the consumer in you, you'll never be happy.