Wildflower Burst Silhouette Pendant

Before I moved to India, I sold everything I owned save for one giant suitcase full of necessary odds and ends, eight boxes of books, four over-stuffed CD holders, and a couple crates of records. All but the suitcase and its contents are stored with friends who were kind enough to lend a corner of their already crowded New York City apartments for the duration of my two-plus year excursion across the world. When one rids oneself of nearly all of one’s material possessions, the items one keeps give a pretty accurate description of what that person deems important. One item I just couldn’t part with was the board game Scrabble.

Scrabble is a game of words and strategy that can be played individually or with a partner. When playing solo against my partner, I tend to get bored and frustrated. The most readily available opponent in Kolkata, the time he takes when planning out his method of potential success wears on my patience. Each turn is an excruciating ordeal whereby I tap my fingers on the table and sigh loudly while my partner hems-and-haws for several minutes over the next painstaking move that will leave as little room as possible for me to maneuver my creatively conjured five- to seven-tile words. My own wordplay begins to express my emotions: hungry, annoyed, vexing.

Eventually one of us wins, and as I put the game back into its box we quibble about our differing styles and expectations. He plays games to win while I play simply to play. Ultimately, when it’s just the two of us, neither of us has much fun. So, we keep the tiles on the shelf until our annoyance at our difference has been sufficiently forgotten, and my desire to play my favorite game is renewed—or we invite friends to join who can add a little variety to this subdued recreation.

NoisyBirdStudio’s Wildflower Burst Silhouette Pendant necklace reminds me of Scrabble because the one-by-one inch square teal pendant is made from a similar semi-woody material. There is a foggy spot smack dab in the center of the white daisy that makes me think of my propensity to obscure the memory of my partner’s and my doomed game playing in favor of seeing the beauty in the intended design. Perhaps it’s India that gave this misty edge to an otherwise cutesy piece. It wouldn’t be the first time the country has added its unique flavor to a piece of my jewelry. Some might be disappointed and see the cloud as a flaw, but I think it adds a bit of realism... in a literary kind of way.

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