Aristophanes told a good story. Well, Plato made him. The former claimed that the gods, being angry about something (as per usual), decided quite literally to split humans in two, to make them sorry and afraid (the way all gods work in fact). At the time, your average human was a hybrid male and female, with four of everything we now have two of. Knitting jumpers was a challenge but you were never alone and you could always see where you had been as well as where you were going, simultaneously.
Once split, humans would forever be searching for their other half. Ha ha ha said Zeus, or Apollo or whoever, before nipping off to be a white bull for the evening.
Now, my Dad told me that story and no one made him. I was five years old at the time and expecting Thomas the Tank Engine, but hey, you can’t have everything you want. Sometimes, as a wise man once said, if you try hard you can get what you need* though.
Sometimes, if you are really lucky, you meet up with your other half as in the Aristophanes tale, and actually recognise them as such. Or slowly come to realise that they are the other bit of the jigsaw. Admittedly, a bit of a rubbish jigsaw in that it only has two pieces (and one of them is a nondescript colour that doesn’t seem to go anywhere). Lose one of them under the sofa or let it be chewed by a dog and you can pretty much write the thing off and take it to the charity shop.
I was really, really lucky.
No, really REALLY lucky.
Thank you Snailofhappiness for twenty years of being a complete jigsaw. Please don’t lose me under the sofa or let me be chewed by a dog.
♥♥♥
* That wise man being Dr Gregory House (or possibly Mick Jagger)
I’m sure you didn’t intend it, but you have made me cry! ❤
LikeLike
But in a good way I hope! (Or should I stay in Reading this weekend?!?) 🙂
LikeLike
You must come home – there is half a cauliflower with your name on it!! Well, sort of.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll change my name to Cauli…
LikeLike
Reblogged this on The Snail of Happiness and commented:
Aw, shucks…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loved reading this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So did I!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
brought a tear to my eye as well!!! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
For Jon and Jan (with only an “Oh” and an “Ah”to separate you); something I wrote long ago, but it slots into place nicely…:
Jigsaw
Does a pattern know
When it is not whole,
Or a jigsaw
When a piece is lost?
I missed a piece.
And thought, after
Time’s slow adjustment
That I was whole.
Then I found it,
The missing piece.
And saw at last
I was incomplete.
And now the pattern sings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, that’s lovely and I thank you deeply for it. And when I think the last poem I wrote rhymed thumb with bum, I turn away, blushing…
LikeLike
Ah, but yours was a proper rhyming one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah so, congratulations are in order. I shall order some toot sweet. Twenty years is good going and to think, you’re still putting the jigsaw together.Jan. if you notice him covered in fluff, he’s been under the settee playing with the dog again.
Congratulations to you Both. Well done. It gets easier from now on.
Hugs
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will be keeping a keen eye out for fluff from now on!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got the movie title reference – but really this is just so much better!! I don’t often stumble across a man who has the heart and the courage to publicly salute his partner in such a heartwarming way. My eyes grew a little misty and I feel so happy for both of you. I would print this off and frame it and hang it above my desk – a visual reminder of something to treasure on any day the going seems rough and delight in on those other days! Happy Anniversary to you both! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s so sweet of you, thank you!
LikeLike
The world would be a smaller place without our two snails of happiness coming at us from all angles. Thankyou to the powers that be for uniting a jigsaw and making it fit just so, so that the rest of us can sit back and marvel at the finished result. Lovely sentiment Mr Snail and I am assured that it wasn’t only Ms Snail crying 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations! You’re a whole lot better off than Withnail. He never got poems from Kate or half a cauliflower from Jan. Best wishes for many more years of good living and happiness!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your wishes, we will make them ours! I’ll check in case Mr Grant received half a cauli from Jan – apparently not. Phew!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely post! I’m grateful to Ms. Snail for sharing it. Not a dry eye in the house, I bet . . .
you are both very lucky, in my not so humble opinion. ~ Linne
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Beautiful! I am so happy for you both, and just a teensy bit jealous (friend of the Snail here…). I’ve made some mistakes with pieces that kinda fit and, well, it falls apart eventually.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I guess you need the mistakes so that you can spot the right piece, but it would be easier if life were colour-coded in some way (but maybe less fun too)!
LikeLike
Congrats!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person