Mah Jong

A little history: multiple decades ago a group of women started playing Mah Jong together. According to Wikipedia, "Mahjong is a game for four players that originated in China. Mahjong involves skill, strategy, and calculation, as well as a certain degree of luck. In Asia, mahjong is also popularly played as a gambling game. This group of women still continue to play the game and have formed a close and lasting friendship that goes well beyond the Mah Jong table. They have seen each other through all of life's ups and downs. One of these women is my mother-in-law, Pat. Another one of the women is, coincidentally, the mother of a woman I met 3 years ago through Thomas' co-op. She (her lovely name is Terriko) and I thought it would be a hoot to follow in our mother (or mother-in-law's) footsteps and form our own Mah Jong group. While you only need 4 to play the game, there are 7 of us total which works out well as one or more usually has a sick child, or late-working-husband etc. The 7 of us have children the same age and we meet during the weekdays for playgroup or weeknights for Mah Jong. We have been playing for about 2 years now, and while we haven't really improved that much (we still have yet to keep score- we all blame the wine) we all look forward to our Mah Jong nights. Without these women, I know my sanity would have been compromised greatly these past few years. They are funny, intelligent, supportive, honest, and special. I feel so lucky to have them in my life.

Here is a glimpse of our last gathering:



(Mosaic inspired by my cousin, Danielle. I think I'll be making a lot of these!)