Do you remember your U.S. puzzle map?

When you were five years old, I purchased for you a puzzle that was a United States map. Each piece was a state (or a group of small states, such as those in New England).

We always started by piecing together the outside border of the map, which had each of the flags for the states. Then we usually started by going west to east.

You quickly learned all of the big states - like California, Texas, Florida and Minnesota - and then soon began to remember the shapes of other states. I was very impressed at how quickly you picked them up! Often I told you stories about your visits to each of the 10-12 states you'd been to.

A map puzzle was how I learned each of the states - their names, their shapes, their locations - when I was a young boy. I am so glad to pass on this "tradition" to you...perhaps one day when you are a daddy, too, you'll teach your son about the states by using a map puzzle, too!