It’s just a number?

Have you ever watched the TV show Numbers?  In it the FBI solves crimes with the assistance of a brilliant mathematician, Charlie.  He uses various mathematical principles to extrapolate data from a crime into information that can be used to catch the culprit.  As a math minor in college I find this to be more than a little intriguing. 

Numbers tell a story, sometimes more than we’d like to admit.  In the IF world we count CDs, months (or years) actively trying to conceive, pills we take, thyroid levels, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  For the lucky lady that gets the BFP, numbers represent the weeks of life growing inside.

And just where is all this going?  Thanks for asking.  Two very different, but yet not, numbers, 55,555 and 300, got me started down this road.


 

Down this road.  (I love puns.)  55,555 is the mileage the odometer turned on my way to church last week.  At least this time, when I took the picture, I was stopped at a light, unlike the last photos.  I was thinking about all this number represents.  A lot of life has happened in all those miles.

We drove to North Carolina once and Tennessee twice to visit my aunt and uncle.  My aunt Mary is my mom’s older sister and most like her in so many ways.  When we visit with them we talk about so many things -  religion, politics, culture, health – nothing is off limits.  I see so much in my aunt the things I miss most of my mom.  Going home is always bittersweet.

We drove to two different GK Chesterton conferences, one in Maryland and one in St. Louis.  If you ever get the chance, go to one of these.  You will encounter some of the nicest, smartest, most amazingly down-to-earth people you ever want to meet.  And Dale Ahlquist is pretty cool too.  Himself and I can also say we are both published photographers as a result of these conferences.  Funny, we missed last summer’s conference due to illness and there weren’t any pictures published.  Seems like they missed us!

This car as gotten me to jobs at four different employers, one I love and the rest, well, let’s just say I’m glad they were consulting and temporary.   It’s taken me shopping and to church and visiting and to the park.  Just this past Saturday we headed down to Amish country to load up on the essentials – bacon, butter and cheese. 

And 300?  That is this post.  I now have had something to say three hundred times.  Sometimes it’s been thoughtful and eloquent and insightful.  Other times it’s been vapid and trite.  But, like the odometer mileage, it’s all been representative of life.  My life.  And it is good.

AMDG

PS.  Well, it was the 300th post until yesterday's papal announcement.   I guess giving that one over to Pope Francis was a good thing!

PPS. Another math nerdy thing - did you know today is PI day?  It's 3.14!

Habemus Papam!

Perspective

I haven’t been posting much lately, obviously, and, when I do, what I write has been fairly brief and pretty lame.  I wanted a quiet Lent, so maybe the lack of posting has been a good thing. 

I guess it’s just a matter of how I look at it.  Isn’t so much of life like that?  The same thing, viewed from different perspectives, can yield vastly different feelings and attitudes. 

So, for the moment, I'm embracing the quiet, and, when I get the chance, the beauty below.

Is Sara trying to get out or am I trying to get in?

AMDG