I'm an addict. I admit it. I've become addicted to the “Word Find” puzzle -- my special challenge in the daily paper.

Not the crossword. There you have to come up with the right word for a definition below, and fill in matching letters -- up and down. In Word Find, the word is waiting for you right there in the mess of mixed-up letters. There's a certain satisfaction in tracking down that correct meaning.

So that's my thing!

I remember Pat. She and her patient husband, Bill, would come through the club room in their bathing suits at camp, headed for a swim down at the lake. Pat just couldn't get past that sea-scene jigsaw, half completed, there on the round center table. It took her eye every time.

“Just a minute, Bill,” she'd say. “I see where that bottom piece goes.” You know the rest of the story -- 20-minute delay, at least.

My mother's friend, Rita, was crippled and spent much of her time sitting. The huge jigsaws were the ones she loved, and once she completed a really beautiful one, she'd have it framed. On the back would be her name, the date, and how long it took her to complete. Rita is starting to run out of wall space in her apartment. But she's proud of every picture she has completed!

There are many kinds of puzzles -- not just the jigsaw type. What good are they? Lots of good - for the brain. Puzzles can: Calm you down, increase your self-esteem, add to your enjoyment, and increase your power of observation. There are books full of them that you can buy. Give puzzles a try.

Dorothy Nelson lives and writes in Auburn