Word puzzles, number puzzles, puzzle puzzles. My husband and I have always enjoyed doing puzzles. Sometimes we quietly entertain ourselves by doing puzzles as a solitary pastime—my husband filling in a Sudoku and I filling in a crossword. Occasionally, we decide that two brains are better than one and we might tackle a puzzle together. And, of course, it is always a race to see who can get the most answers correct because obviously that is a sign of who is the smartest—and we all know that girls are smarter than boys.

Last year during the 75^th anniversary convention of the National Federation of the Blind, my husband and I had the opportunity to join forces and solve the Diamond Quest puzzle as a team. We truly had to be a team in order for us to proceed … and eventually, win! I knew a lot of NFB trivia (being a proud Federationist since I was seven) and he is just a Brainiac. We had loads of fun decoding riddles, chasing down answers, meeting new people in order to get clues, and learning things along the way.

I think the coolest part of the diamond Quest though wasn’t the puzzle itself. Huh? What? Wait a minute!

That’s right. The coolest part of the Diamond Quest was that it got people up and moving, talking to each other, and learning really neat things in order to move onto the next round. I found myself visiting the Presidential Suite for the first time in seventeen national conventions. My husband talked to many blind people to ask them questions about trivia or to ask them to read something in Braille for him. We had a blast—especially when we threw our paper airplanes at President Riccobono during the conclusion of the banquet speech. Unfortunately, my paper airplane fell quite short of its destination.

Well, I’m not writing this post to reminisce about puzzles past. I’m writing it in the hopes that you will join Federationists from across the nation during this year’s NFB Quest. Meet new people, and perhaps new friends. Solve clues and learn new things about the NFB. Puzzles are for everyone. Anyone can solve a puzzle: people new to the NFB, veterans of the NFB, young people, older people, women, men, brunettes, red heads, curly-haired people, straight-haired people, and even bald people. Regardless of who you are, or just how smart you think you might be, dive deep into this year’s quest: Dots from Space!

To join in on the fun, please visit http://quest.nfb.org! Or for more information on how to play, please send an email to [email protected], or leave a voicemail at (203) 364-4263.