Fatigue and burnout can get in the way too. Certainly, the last three years have taken a toll on most of us. For me, it feels as if 2020 has been one long, perpetual year that won’t end. Three (3) years later COVID is still here (recently joined by the flu and RSV). Extremism and strife within our political systems persist, our democracy feels fleeting. Nonprofits are still clamoring for resources that should be flowing to them and the communities they sit in.. Not only is the work challenging, our collective and personal mental health is weaker. Our physical bodies and minds are exhausted. We are in an existential crisis. The mission, vision, and core values of our country, its states, and our sector are in shambles. And, so too, I believe, are our personal commitments to them.

As  you can imagine, their puzzle collection is massive. It literally spans decades – some of the oldest I’ve seen date back to the 1950s. They’re a record of intergenerational connection, a time capsule. When working on one, I can imagine aunts and uncles as children, touching those same pieces, while their parents (our grandparents) worked beside them.