Brand manager for Cracker Barrel

However, being all of eight years old, I had something on my mind other than my appetite and Honest Abe.

The restaurant chain’s famed peg board puzzle.

I’d come close to trumping it a time or two, but had always left at least two pegs remaining.

That day was different. As I settled in my chair, completely unaware of anyone’s presence, I jumped peg after peg, up and down and all around that 5×5-holed triangle brainteaser until, alas, it was just me and one solitary green peg.