24

Do you have a lucky number?  Many people do.  I don't have a lucky number because I suppose my math background makes me scoff at thinking one number can be more lucky than any other number.  Certainly some numbers may appear more frequently than others given a specific situation, but saying that one number has an affinity for you, as an individual, and shows you preference, doesn't jibe with the statistical, mathematical side of my brain.

What I do have is a favorite number.  I have a number I like more than other numbers.  And it's for a rather odd reason.  Since the title of this post is "24" I have a strong feeling most of you have a pretty good guess as to my favorite number.

I didn't have a favorite number (that I remember) until Junior High School though.  It was around that time that we started moving from classroom to classroom, going from science to English to art.  The classes were usually close to thirty students, sometimes a few more.  That's when twenty-four started showing up.

My maiden name is Spooner.  There are a lot of students with last names starting with a letter alphabetically before S.  There are also a lot of people with names starting with S, but usually the second letter is earlier in the alphabet then P.  So in a class roster, I was commonly near the end of the pack.

Some teachers would sit you in alphabetical order and I might end up in seat 24.  Sometimes they'd have roll call by student number and I might be 24.  Was I always number 24?  No, that would be a statistical anomaly.  But I was number twenty-four more than any other number.  So I decided I liked that number more than any other number.

It's a nice number too.  It's two dozen.  It's divisible by so many other numbers that it's like a "super even" number and I am highly partial to even numbers.  Even numbers just seem more friendly to me.

So while the number twenty-four has never brought me any luck (that I've noticed), it has been around a lot.  If I'm in Las Vegas and I'm putting some chips down on a roulette table, I might be more inclined to put money on twenty-four, although I am not deluded enough to think that will give me any better chance of winning than putting money down on any other number.

Still, there's something satisfying about the imaginary connection between your personal number and external forces.  For example, "Your birthday is on the 17th?  Mine is on the 17th too!"   "Look at those winning lottery numbers, it has your mother's birth year, my cousin's birthday and our neighbor's dog's age, what a coincidence!"   Strange?  To me yes, but I am not immune to this strange phenomenon either.

The Big Boy Update:  Apparently it's bath time because...  I mentioned bath time and my son disappeared.  I found him a few minutes later with the water to the tub running, his clothes off and him sitting in the tub--in his socks.  I'm glad I got in there when I did though.  He had only turned on the hot tap. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  At the table.  She is sitting in the booster seat at the table now.  This morning was the first morning having her and her brother sit side by side at the table together.  She did well.  He stole her food.

Fitness Update:  Not quite four miles and I had to walk and quit.  My shins have been bothering me.  They seize up and get so tight it's difficult to run.  If I can push beyond the first several miles it gets better, but those first few are very hard.  It could possibly be shin splints my neighbor says.  Her doctorly advice?  Take NSAIDs for the next several days and give my legs a rest and see then.  I don't have an injury per-se, but I have been ramping up to longer runs and more difficult gym exercises and the wisdom of the Internet says that can cause it.  So, several days of recovery time and I'll see how I feel at the start of next week.

Someone Once Said:  All logic is merely tautology.