Connections Puzzle: Stages of Grief

Spurred on by my young cousin, I’m prepared to share my grief so that you will know you are not alone.

Then, we can begin the 12 steps, or 5 stages or 16 candles together.

Daily, my youngish cousin Harris and I trade our New York times Wordle and Connections puzzle results; we trade insults even more frequently. It’s very satisfying. He insists that my puzzle results show cognitive decline; I remind him that, coming from our family, he is genetically destined to eat more Xanax than pizza. Also, he beats me because he is much younger and Connections skews toward people who believe in Instagram, supernatural TV, and those who know the names of today’s movie stars.

All that bickering aside, we agree that Connections is a major cause of grief in people who subscribe to (or are adjacent to) the New York Times.

I give him credit for understanding the modern grief process. I’m still stuck with Kubler-Ross who was never especially helpful if you thought clearly about her ideas. Anyway, I will share our understanding with you and hope it promotes your healing. If this doesn’t work, try acupuncture. I know someone very talented with needles.

On with it...

Stages of Connections grief:

Disclaimer: Occasionally, the 16 squares of Connections are incomprehensible, or you get the Yellow one and then nothing. This doesn’t cause grief, just anger. More likely, initially, you are fooled by the red herring – an easily seen connection that is always wrong, like 4 U.S. states or 4 Disney mammals. You feel like a chump because you fell for the red herring. It happens and is considered a minor glitch. But, one guess down.

You make another stab at the puzzle. Wrong, 2 guesses gone.

You are in now in Stage One: Confusion

There is hope;  you can turn this puzzle around with luck or cheating, your choice. You try again. You fail again.

Stage Two: Foolish Determination

You grit your teeth, maybe you brew a cup of coffee (if you are young, you order coffee to be delivered to your apartment). This is where it starts getting bad. It has become personal.

Stage Three: Carelessness

You stop thinking strategically and begin to dwell on your feelings about the NYT and its teeny bopper writers. Probably, at this point, all is lost, but you don’t know it.

Stage Four: Recklessness

Now, you just start banging on the keyboard. You can’t help it.

Stage Five: Destructiveness. Buzzzzzz, you are out. Four guesses gone.

BUT............

The most dangerous stage is the final one,

Stage Six: Denial

You do it all again tomorrow.

My Connections Anonymous Grief Group, CAGG, will be starting in the Fall. Until then, reread Not The Trip We Planned by Edelstein and Kerr. Write a review, or another review under an assumed name. Support elderly writers.