Dates…

Anybody else out there intrigued by numbers?  I know a lot of people have a number that is important to them or their family.  For my papa, it seemed to be 216.  He was born 2-16.  He died on 12-6 in a hospital in room 216.  I think there was more to it, but that's all I can remember at the moment.  

Numbers are HUGE in the Bible.  40 is a common one.  It rained for 40 days and nights when Noah and his family were on the ark.  Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days and nights.  Jesus was tempted for 40 days and nights.  12 is also a big one, there were 12 tribes in the Old Testament and 12 disciples in the New Testament.  3 is definitely an important one.  Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 days, and Jesus was raised after 3 days.  These are just a few examples of significant numbers in the Bible, but even from these examples, we can see that numbers are important to God, and He has a plan and everything He does is on purpose ("The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations" - Psalm 33:11). 

For us, there isn't just one important date or number.  No, for us, it's dates with overlapping significance.  Sometimes these so-called overlapping dates astound me. Today is one of those days. But I’ll get back to that.

June 13

For Aaron and me, it started on the day we met. Though some of the dates happened long before that and we wouldn’t realize the overlapping significance until later, June 13, 2009, is when it officially began. That’s the day we met, which was one of the greatest days of my life, also overlapping one of the saddest. When I was nine on June 13, I experienced my first real loss. That’s the day my nanny passed away after battling cancer. The day we met is also significant, not because of overlapping dates, but because of lives that didn’t get to overlap. Just five days prior to meeting Aaron, my sister’s husband, David, passed away. Now that I think about it, these dates overlap and the stories overlap, but sadly, most of the time, the lives don’t. I will always wish Aaron could have come around 6 days sooner and met David. I will always wonder what they would have thought of each other. I’ll always wish they could have met, and that he could have met my nanny, and my other grandparents for that matter. 

August 14

Since meeting, so many other dates have overlapped.  One pretty significant one is August 14th. That is when Aaron's dad passed away, which also happens to be my brother’s birthday. (In fact, Charley has a whole story of how his birthday overlaps with a hurricane that happens to bear his same name.)  They never got the chance to meet.  Time is a thief.  Again, dates and stories overlapping, but lives that didn’t.  Mourning and celebrating intertwined.

January 10

Another important overlapping date happened when I was 30.  This one is different, because it's about just me, but it's too important to ignore.  I was sitting in church one January listening to a sermon on baptism and feeling God speaking to my soul. He was reminding me that none of lies of the devil were true, that I was His child no matter what Satan tried to tell me, and that no matter what mistakes I had made, I was forgiven and loved. At some point toward the end of the sermon, I looked at the date, and I noticed January 10. The same date I was baptized back in 1993. How could that be coincidence?  I knew it was God’s way of telling me it was time to get baptized again, not that the first time didn’t count, but for my own sake and to shut down the lies of the devil. I gratefully walked down the aisle and my Daddy baptized me as I gave my life to Jesus once more. 

July 25

A date that will always go down as one of the worst days of my life is July 25th.  When I was 16, my uncle Jeff passed away unexpectedly at the age of 28, leaving behind my aunt and his 2 babies that were only 6 months old and 2 days from turning 2.  I remember so many details from that day.  It's a day I've replayed in my head so many times, and now 21 years later, the memory still feels so fresh in so many ways.  Just a day or 2 before that, Mom and I got caught in the undercurrent at the beach and had to be rescued by a lifeguard.  I remember that I couldn't wait to tell him that story.  I never got the chance.  The last day I saw him, we were shopping for school clothes.  He wanted to go see the new Tomb Raider movie and asked me to go with him.  I declined, because 16-year-old-me wanted to shop some more.  I'll ALWAYS regret not watching that movie with him.  I'll always remember seeing him come walking down the mall toward us with his sweet daughter on his shoulders that same day, him saying it was time for another while holding his youngest at Fazoli's just a few days before that, and my final memory of him biting his tongue instead of commenting on my bare-midriff top with crazy JNCO jeans.  Years later, July 25th would become one of the worst days of Aaron's life too, which also made it even worse to me.  On July 25th, his mom passed away after her own battle with cancer.  Thankfully, we were able to see her just a few weeks before, but I'll always wish we had stayed longer and visited more often.  I never thought that would be the last time we saw her, that when we said goodbye, there was a greater weight to it than I realized.  Mourning, and more mourning for July 25th.

January 31

I've contemplated the significance of overlapping dates before, but today it really struck me.  I knew it was coming, but somehow it just really resonated with me today.  I felt like I had to get this all written out.  It's also one of my goals to write at least one blog a month in 2023, and here we are, January 31st, and I haven't made myself do it yet.  I have several ideas started in the notes on my phone and in my brain that I thought I'd start with, but for some reason, this is what I'm writing first.  

So, today it struck me, because on this day last year, we said goodbye to our sweet lab, Emma.  She had a pretty short but serious battle with Addison's disease.  It was on this day last year that we found her laying in her own blood and unable to move.  She had managed to stay with us and awake, and I fully believe it was so we could say our goodbyes.  We all talked to her and hugged her, and she made one last attempt to move and hopped/hobbled onto her mat.  We took the kids to school and then loaded her up and she didn't even make it to the vet.  It was absolutely devastating.  The kids, especially the boys, took it really hard.  Both of them still cry about her every now and then, especially Canyon.  I had to show him pictures of her every single night for literally months.  We bought him a stuffed animal that looks just like her.  He used to say, "I want to go to heaven so I can see Emma."  Every now and then, he'll start to cry out of nowhere and when I ask him why he says, "I just miss Emma."  It breaks my heart for him, and all of us really.  Death isn't easy for any of us to understand, but especially a toddler.  Emma was his best friend.  How do you explain that your best friend is somewhere better now, but you can't go there anytime soon?  Anyway, January 31st is significant because it is also Aaron's mom's birthday.  Imagine that?  A day we once remembered for celebrating and now we remember it with mourning.  Sounds familiar.

Our sweet Emma on the day we adopted her 💗

What Date Will Be Next?

The dates keep overlapping.  I'm almost scared which dates will overlap next.  Thankfully, I learned a quote years ago that still applies today, "I might not know what my future holds, but I know WHO holds my future."  I also know the words of Ecclesiastes 3, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Then, there's Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." These things I know: He has a plan for me, and things happen according to His plan.  I don't know exactly what he's trying to teach me in all of this, but I do know that He sees the big picture and has been orchestrating my life and Aaron's even before we met.  Out of 365 days in the year to choose from, why keep overlapping the dates unless there is a meaning and purpose to it all?  There must be.

Do you have any significant numbers or dates?  I'd love to hear your story!  I'd love to hear your thoughts on dates and what it all means, too.  Leave a comment below.