By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Rarely does one birthday present bring so much pain and pleasure. Steve and Lois DiMaria’s grandchildren gave their grandpa an 18,000 piece puzzle – innocently instigating a mystery the Bowling Green couple felt compelled to solve.
“It took us four years to do it,” Steve said. “We would tackle it during the winter months.”
The grandchildren also had no idea of the space the puzzle would consume.
Every year after Thanksgiving dinner until Easter dinner, the DiMaria’s dining room table would be overtaken by the Ravensburger puzzle showing an African scene of elephants, giraffes, rhinos, lions and zebras at a watering hole.
That’s a dining room table, with two leaves – with the puzzle taking up the entire 9 ½ by 6 ½ foot space.
When guests would come over, the DiMarias would have to offer more casual dining.
“Sorry, we have to eat in the living room on TV trays,” Lois would say. “We’re not going to move it.”
To tackle such a monster of a puzzle really takes personalities that love puzzles. Lois is such a person. Steve, not so much.
But Steve rose to the challenge and became hooked on completing the project as much as his wife.
“It would be hours at a time,” Lois said. “I’m an all or nothing person.”
The work was extra tedious since the pieces were so small and similar in shape. Sometimes they would have to take apart sections that were already completed to redo them. There were times the couple felt like giving up – especially in the vast areas of gray on the elephant.
Some portions of the puzzle, with lots of color, were easier to piece together.
“There were sections that were really fun to do,” Lois said. “It really felt like you had accomplished something.”
Luckily, the 18,000 pieces were divided into four plastic bags of 4,500 pieces each. That made the job a little more manageable, Steve said. “We were grateful for that,” Lois added.
After four years of on-and-off work, the puzzle was complete – except for one annoyingly missing piece right in the center of the elephant. The couple searched everywhere for the missing piece, but finally had to call the puzzle company to ask for another. Of course, the missing piece came in a bag with 4,499 other pieces.
“I don’t think I have the gumption to do it,” Lois said about sorting through the bag for the exact piece of gray.
The giant puzzle now lives on eight pieces of fiber board, under the DiMaria’s bed – the only space large enough to store the African scene.
“I cut them so they would just go through the door,” Steve said of the fiber board pieces.
The couple pieced the board together – taking up their living room floor – to show the entire scene.
“It’s a beautiful puzzle,” Steve said. “It really is beautiful.”
And big.
“It’s mind boggling, isn’t it,” Steve said.
The grandchildren who gifted the puzzle were amazed when they saw the complete picture.
“I think they were impressed,” Lois said. “They got a lot of laughs out of it.”
The couple is now looking for a home for the massive African scene – saying it’s a shame to hide it under their bed. “Wherever it’s moved, it has to be glued there,” Steve said, since moving the puzzle in its entirety would be nearly impossible.
“I’d love to see it go somewhere with children,” like a pediatric hospital, Steve said.
As payback, the couple has given puzzles to their grandchildren.
“I suspect my son is the one who egged them on,” Lois said.
The DiMarias have not tackled any puzzles since completing the massive masterpiece. But Lois admitted, her fingers were itching to get back at it.
“I kind of miss it,” she said, but quickly added that a more manageable size would be nice. “It was fun, but I never ever want to do that big of a puzzle again.”
Anyone who might have a suitable location to display the African wildlife scene can reach the DiMarias at sjd260@frontier.com.
