“It”

“It” started, many years ago as a fun thing to do on Sunday mornings.

Shortly after that, “it” turned into a habit.  An acceptable habit. Nothing life altering or intrusive.  

Then “it” quietly morphed into compulsion. And, soon after that, “it” went straight into addiction. 

“It” is crossword puzzles. I am an addict. I order books of puzzles of them from Amazon.  I do the Wall Street Journal puzzle every day but Friday.  And the New York Times every single day. That’s not to say that I complete each and every one but I give it my best shot.  And I enjoy doing it.  It’s good for my health.  And my brain. Most of the time.

“It” recently chose to inform me that I’m not as young as I once was. That ’m a bit behind the times. As if I didn’t know but still…..

To wit:  Last week, the very first “across” clue in a WSJ crossword puzzle was “Talented Taylor.”  Easy-peasy, I said to myself.  That would, of course, be “James Taylor” as in that wonderful folk singer whom I took to my very own doctor many years ago, because he happened to be in Dayton and was concerned about his health and I was the only one who knew a doctor.  He was just fine as it turned out and the doctors and nurses were delighted to meet him.

But I digress.  As I got deeper into that puzzle, it became clear that there were issues.  “JAMES” just wasn’t cutting the mustard.  Those five little letters weren’t playing nicely with the others.  It was, in a word, a mess.

I now realize that there was another answer to the clue. A newer one. An up-to-date one. It just wasn’t the one which came quickly to my mind. 

The correct answer for “Talented Taylor” wasn’t “JAMES” at all. It was “SWIFT.”  

Of course it was.