The puzzle house

Dear You,

     We spent a Thanksgiving weekend on the outskirts of a small town in Colorado. However small a town was in Colorado it was still a pretty big town to us. We were born and raised among fields of corn and friendly smiles. Grocery stores where you were greeted by name and could easily hold a conversation with anyone. Back there we were someone but, out here, we were no one. It was exciting and refreshing.

     We only had a couple days before we were due back for family affairs but, we had one goal set for the weekend- conquer the puzzle house. A puzzle house is much like it sounds, a house that is a giant puzzle. You're locked in the house, in one room really to start, and everything is padlocked shut. You must solve little puzzles here and there to find the combinations for the locks. Some of the locks opened chests or drawers that led to more puzzles. The ultimate goal of each room was to unlock the door to the next room and therefore navigate your way through the house and finish. All of this had to be done in an allowed amount of time. I believe the amount of time was dependent on the number of players in your team among other things.

     The whole journey to Colorado you were so excited about this puzzle house. You spent at least half the trip looking up old codexes on the internet. Preparing yourself with old civil war symbol codes and sudoku puzzles. The way your eyes grew so wide when you were worked up and how you would attempt to squint them at your phone or laptop to read. Occasionally, you'd jolt your face from your phone to look at me and scream, "LISTEN TO THIS." I would smirk to myself the way your head shot back and forth from the phone to me to make sure I was listening. The whole time your eyes going from wide to squint, wide to squint.

     When we were in the puzzle house you were brilliant. You solved so many of the riddles and equations, many more than I did. I had trouble focusing on the numbers and locks when it was so easy to get lost staring at you. All your resolve and focus made you glow. When we didn't make it all the way through in our allowed amount of time you weren't mad or upset, just determined. You were so determined to learn more codes and tricks and you told me when we came back that house was going down.

     All we did on the outskirts of that little town in Colorado was fail at a puzzle house. Yet, I felt as though I had succeeded at so many other things that day it didn't even matter. Watching how many times those big brown eyes lit up with joy and excitement was worth more than anything to me.

With all my love,

X