the boy's father looked upon him and smiled.  this particular smile the boy had seen a few times before, such as the first time he read 'go dog go,' when he learned to ride a bike, and the first time he brought home an a from school--clearly he had done something to impress his father, though for all the power of his young mind he simply could not recall having done any such thing for quite some time.

"i want you to see something."

at this point the boy thought that he had possibly misinterpreted his father's smile--that it had in fact been an excitement sparked by the joy of giving his child something he was sure to enjoy.  the two then left the room, the younger following somewhat impatiently behind the older.  when they reached another room, the boy was quite amazed at what he saw on the table.  it was clear then that his initial interpretation as well as the 'corrected' had been accurate--somehow he felt that he had put together what lay on the table, while at the same time his father was quite excited at the thought of being the one to show him.

"do you know what this is?"

the boy's mouth lay agape in awe, but he managed to nod his head.  the object on the table was the most amazing puzzle he had ever seen, fully assembled.  it did not depict anything that could be described, yet the boy knew exactly what it was, and it was truly more beautiful than anything he had ever seen or even imagined.  he stepped a little closer and noticed that there were a few pieces missing.  with this observation he became much less impressed with what his father had given him, and though he knew that his father knew why the pieces were missing, he found himself quite unable to ask.  seemingly on cue, the father quietly left the boy alone in the room with the puzzle.

with the passing years the boy slowly understood more and more what exactly the puzzle was.  each one if its pieces individually were a gift from his father, and over the years up until his father actually had shown it to him, he had been slowly putting each piece in its place--all without any notion that there even might be a puzzle.

the missing pieces began to nag patiently yet incessantly at the back of his consciousness, and after some time he thought that he should seek out something with which he might fill his holes.  the years continued to pass as he found various puzzle pieces in everyday objects, and some were given to him by people he met.  each of these pieces looked to him at first to be even more beautiful than his puzzle, but as soon as he tried to fit them in, they became the most revoltingly ugly things one could imagine, and he was forced to either toss them away or return them to whoever had given them.  this same trial and error continued for many years, slowly increasing the boy's frustration.

all of these failed attempts to complete the puzzle his own way had pulled the boy away from his father, and eventually his eyes were opened to this.  for years he had been running around trying to complete his puzzle when he knew full well that his father was the only one who had ever given him pieces.  at that point he promised his father that he would no longer try to find the missing pieces--he would have them when his father wanted him to.  after that the boy became a man, and he once again grew closer to his father, but still the years passed without him seeing an addition to his puzzle.

one day while the man was relaxing in his room, his father walked in wearing a smile very similar to the one the boy had seen before the puzzle was made known to him.  he recalled that he had not seen a smile of this scale from his father since that time.  his father walked over to him and handed him a number of puzzle pieces.  the man looked up and smiled at his father with a boyish joy--the kind a father would receive after returning a favorite but lost toy to his young son.  the man took the pieces to his puzzle and tried to fill the empty spaces.  he was slightly disappointed to find that not even these pieces fit, but he noticed that their beauty remained when they were brought close to the puzzle.  he looked up in confusion at his father, who simply smiled understandingly.

"now, i want to introduce you to someone."

the man gathered the new pieces and followed his father to the front door.  the father stepped to the side and the man realized that it was up to him to open the door.  so open the door he did, and on the other side stood a woman who appeared to be just as nervous as he was--and rightly so for the both of them--though they did not know how they knew, they were fully aware that this moment in their life was very important.  the man slipped his puzzle pieces into his pocket, took the woman's arm, and walked away with her.

over time the two got to know each other, fell in love, and continually grew closer.  eventually the man cared so much for the woman that he wanted to share everything with her, so he brought her to his puzzle.  she was quite amazed by it, but she didn't appear at all surprised.  she noticed the missing pieces and her eyes lit up as she reached into her pocket.  her eyes met the man's as a smile grew on her face and her hand emerged from her pocket with a collection of puzzle pieces, which she then placed in the empty spaces of the man's puzzle.  the new pieces fit perfectly, but they possessed a different form of beauty.  the man knew that this is what his father had intended for his puzzle, and he smiled as he reached into his pocket and showed the woman that he too had pieces that didn't belong in his puzzle.  he already knew that she had the puzzle they belonged in before the smile on her face confirmed it.  the man's father, watching from a location unseen to both of them, smiled at how his son and daughter had turned out.