forty four

You know how people have lucky numbers? Well, I have two, of a sort, 11 and 44. Sometimes it's 444, but most of the time it's 44. They're not so much lucky numbers as numbers that have special meaning to me. Sometimes they're just an encouragement, they say, "Keep going you're on the right path." Or they'll say, "Pay attention to this." They've even been used to help me make some course corrections. Anyway, 44 popped up in countless ways this summer. Here are three of them from a few of the books I read:

'"Go, dogs. Go! The light is green now."' - Go, Dog. Go! pg 44

'"I am sure," she said, "that every one of us here will be gratified to learn that after four weeks of unremitting effort and patience on the part of our friend the goose, she now has something to show for it. The goslings have arrived. May I offer my sincere congratulations!"' - Charlotte's Web pg 44

"She glanced back. For a few seconds they look silently into each other's eyes, and the distant and impossible suddenly became near, possible, and inevitable. . . . . . . ." - War and Peace pg 1144

On August 4th, I received an email from the British Consulate letting me know that my visa had been issued. It arrived the next day. I'm leaving for Belfast on August 23rd (Monday!) and I know that I have two years there...

All that seemed distant and impossible suddenly became near, possible, and inevitable.

I can hardly stand it (and I can't wait to be done with the packing, although I wish I didn't have to say goodbye to so many wonderful people) and waking up in a plane over Irish fields on Tuesday morning cannot come soon enough!