Scrabble!

Whenever we're together, my mom and sister and I love to play Scrabble! We'll sometimes play two games in a row, or several times in a day if we have the time.  We play "kind-and-gentle" Scrabble where we use the Scrabble Dictionary to confirm works we're thinking about using; We have lists that list 2 letter words and  "Q" words without the letter u.  When dad was alive, he'd play with us, too, but he liked to play by the rules--no dictionary unless to "challenge!"  He knew some pretty obscure words (leno), and he liked to bluff.  Dad rarely would win.  We even keep a little piece of paper taped to the inside of a door to record the highest scores a person makes.  My personal best is 485 points on November 17, 2007.   That might of been the game that I had 3 seven letter words...

How did our devotion to scrabble begin? With a heart attack.

When I was middle school age or so, my dad had a heart attack while we were vacationing at Myrtle Beach.  We were staying at a high rise condo in North Myrtle called the Brigadune.  Dad and I were swimming in the ocean when he got out complaining of chest pains.  I thought he'd swallowed too much sea water.  The next thing I know, he's at Myrtle General being treated for a heart attack.  I remember visiting dad in the hospital.  I remember he stayed in the hospital while we went back home.  I think he was in Myrtle for 3 weeks.  While there, dad bought into a Time Share at the Montego Inn.  For the next 18 years, vacation would be at Myrtle Beach.

It was during our week at Myrtle that we'd play some Scrabble.  Mom would pack some games and she'd include scrabble. We might play once or twice while at the beach, but that was it for the year.  We really didn't play at home. 

It might have been after college that we would play when I'd come home for a visit.  Our affection for the game has really grown since.  My mom and my sister and I even take it along with us when we go on girls' weekends away.  It seems that mom is the catalyst to want to play.  Amy and I rarely play just the two of us. 

Another game we girls like is Rummikub.