Rubik’s Cube Therapy

It’s started out innocently enough. Daniel got a Rubik’s Cube at a party. The boys were both obsessed with solving a single side in every color.

“Look mom, I solved GREEN! ... Now I solved RED! ... Now I solved BLUE!”

Then the cube was dropped. Pieces got put back. 

And then a bigger

D
  R
    O
       P. 

More pieces to put back. 

And then, “Mom, I can solve white, but I can’t solve GREEN anymore.”

For the first time, I realized that Rubik’s Cube pieces have to be placed correctly, otherwise it can never be solved. It’s not just a random puzzle, there is order and logic and pattern. 

If only every puzzle in life was that way. 

Then Josiah brought another cube into the house - one that couldn’t break apart so easily. He really wanted to learn how to solve it, so we started looking at YouTube videos and eventually I solved it! I was so proud of myself. 

The cube remained solved for a long time. 

No one wanted to touch the perfect masterpiece. 

Josiah got a 2x2 cube and learned to solve it consistently. So I went back to the 3x3 and really learned it so that I could solve it repeatedly. When Nathan was in the States for classes, he bought 2 cubes for the family, a bit bewildered at our obsession. 

But then he saw it. 

The cube had become a coping strategy. 

It was therapeutic. 

Moving internationally is like a big complicated puzzle with moving pieces. Except there is NOT always order or logic or pattern. The steps for getting a visa, as laid out on the consulate website, may not actually be the steps to getting a visa. The process of moving a few boxes from one country to another has more variables than actual boxes. 

And so, as life around me remains unpredictable and uncertain, I can pick up a scrambled Rubik’s Cube and solve the problem. I can make the randomness make sense again.

It’s my Rubik’s Cube therapy.