The Importance Of 11

  The number 11 has special importance to our family. My birthday is 1/1. Shannon's is 11/11. We see signs in very normal places about that number. Over the past few days the signs frequency has steadily increased to the point where we're drowning in it all. The $600M PowerBall last night was 11. The other numbers weren't, so we lost that one.
  It's not just numbers that are connecting in odd ways. Today as I was driving with a friend to play squash in Cambridge he decided to take a route through Newton instead of the Pike. As we drove along in his loudly blue WRX blasting Calvin Harris like 14 year olds, we drove past Newton Wellesley, the site of the start of our journey, and these lyrics were blaring as we flew by.

 So I put my faith in something unknown
 I'm living on such sweet nothing
 but I'm trying to hope, with nothing to hold, 
 I'm living on such sweet nothing

Now the rest of the lyrics are about some passive aggressive jerk who strings the singer along, but these are signs here so they can't jump right out and slap you. We made our way through the backroads and ended up talking about how we met our wives and how we knew they were the one. Just as I was telling the story of our meeting we pulled onto memorial drive by the MIT boat house. When Shannon and I first met we had an hour to kill before a Red Sox game and so I drove us over to that side of the river and we walked along the Charles looking at Boston. It felt exactly like that day as we drove by and I retold the story of knowing right then, and staring at her freaking out mentally the whole time. The water was perfectly glassy as we continued along to squash.

  The fact that my Y gene deletion mutation came as an accident of creation, at my conception, gives me the comfort to know that this was all part of a plan. I was pre-determined to have this condition. These are all signs to me that whatever route we end up having to take to become parents, and whatever we find out tomorrow about our future, there is a plan for us. We are destined for great things.

Shannon's sister Julia has been incredibly helpful in making me see that this journey is a blessing. The growth I am going through mentally, and atheist or not, spiritually will make me a much better husband, father, person.  God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline, whether he exists or not.

We find out tomorrow at 8:45am where the rest of the plan takes us. We're excited for the next mile of the race.