Rumeo.
Or as some call it, Rumikub.
I was raise on Rumeo. My Gram taught me how to play when I was 6 or 7. Every week, we spent hours with these tiles and with each other. We ate M&Ms, drank tea, laughed, talked, and played some serious games. I am not competitive, except when it comes to cards and Rumeo. My Gram was the exact same way. These were the only times in life when we went head-to-head and showed each other no mercy. But win or lose, we praised each other. No room for talking smack at Gram's dining room table. Win and lose graciously or don't play.
My aunt knew how to play too and I played with her sometimes. There were rare occasions when the three of us played together, but those games would get rather prickly so we would stop at one or maybe two for the day (instead of the marathons we usually played when it was just the two of us).
Then Kevin entered the picture. He was deemed Rumeo-worthy and would play with us.
One day, Gram presented me with this Rumeo set. I had arrived! I had my own tiles that I could take with me wherever I went. I was overflowing with gratitude and joy. Gram thought enough of me as a player to gift me with our game!
My parents HATE GAMES. I do not think I wrote that big enough.
HATE GAMES. When I was 16 I had a very very severe case of mono (thanks to a boy named Timmy...i guess i had a little to do with it too). I went for extensive blood work and they determined mono, with the added bonuses of strep and a rash. Good times. One day, Mom came to my bedside with my Rumeo tiles and said, "Do you feel up to a game?" I burst out in tears. I knew I must be dying and that they lied to me about the mono. There was no other reason my mom would play a game with me. Once she calmed me down, I was too worn out to play, so I slept for several hours, woke up and taught her how to play. She only played that one time. But the moment will last forever.
When my Gram passed away, her Rumeo tiles stayed at her house, on the floor, in the corner of the dining room. That is where they were kept from the day she bought them. My aunt moved in to the house and we continued to use the set. When my aunt passed away and the house was cleaned out, we gave the set to Kevin. He was so good to Gram and my aunt, always helping them around the house, popping in just to say hello, giving out hugs and kisses and warmth. Rumeo worthy.
For several years, I tried to introduce my girls to the game, but it didn't click. Until this past weekend. Sunshine Girl kicked our butts. The Bug wanted to play again and again. I am keeping the tiles out now. A new wave of good times and love will be created by sliding around tiles and laughing and seeing those wheels turning as we each try to be the first one to clear our board.
*to find the origins of Thursday's Thing, click
Here
I knew where I wanted to go with these but was not sure I was going to get there. But I did! I arrived at my destination, almost as planned in my head. The only variation was the way I strung the pendant. I wanted to put some of the branch pearls on the necklace, right where the pendant hung. But it looked like deer antlers coming out of the rock. And while I love venison, I am weary of being in the middle of hunting season here and didn't want it seeping in and mocking my jewelry universe. 
