Friday, March 30, 2012

What's In a Number?

I don't get into much personal, family stuff on my blog but if you've been a reader here for long, you know my family is heavily into sports. Basically we play and we read.  If you are or were an athlete, you understand how numbers can hold power or should I say superstition.  Many young players want to wear the number of a famous professional athlete, but sometimes there is another reason a specific jersey number hold significance.  At our house, it's a family thing.

I have four children and they've all participated in scholastic athletics and two of them continued onto college sports.  When they were elementary and middle school aged, they all admired and loved their older cousin. As a senior in high school, he was being courted by numerous division one colleges for basketball and football.  A terrible accident took his life in the middle of the school year.  Evan was the epitome of kind, humble all around kid.  He was endlessly patient with his younger cousins, attending their games, playing video games and just hanging out with them.  Then he was gone.  Without any discussion with us or each other, each of my children chose to always wear his uniform numbers during their own competitions.  When it came to baseball and for my daughter, softball, they all wore #17.  My three boys have all finished with baseball and this is my daughter's final year at softball.  So number 17 is on the field one last season with the Gourley moniker on top.  It's heart-breaking and bitter sweet, but it means something. 

I signed up for A to Z as soon as the list allowed. Imagine my thrill at being #17.  It means something special to me.  Remembering and missing you, Evan.

What is your A to Z number?  Do you have a favorite number? Do you have a number you have a superstition about?

14 comments:

The Happy Whisk said...

This is a great post. Thanks for sharing it with us. Have fun with the A to Z game.

Talli Roland said...

Evan sounds like such a wonderful young man.

As a former athlete, I had all sorts of favourite numbers and superstitions! Now, my favourite number is 24.

Margo Kelly said...

WOW. I agree, Evan sounds wonderful.

My favorite number? 11.

Have a great weekend.

Tonja said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your son. Numbers don't mean anything to me, but that one certainly would. *hugs*

Ava Quinn said...

Okay, you got me all teary-eyed first thing in the morning. What a beautiful tribute.

My lucky jersey number when I played softball was 14.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Oh, wow, it is so totally cool that you got the number 17 in the A-Z. I love it! My number in the challenge is 255.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Your nephew sounded like a fine young man. Really glad you hit number seventeen on the list. You were on the jump for that.

Cate Masters said...

So sad about your nephew, Susan. How wonderful your kids honor his memory that way.
The number seven's my number. Both my parents had seven kids in their families, and then they had seven kids of their own. I'm number seven.
Have fun with the A-Z Challenge. I'll cheer you on from the sidelines.

shelly said...

This was a nice way to introduce yourself. I'm a mother of five daughters, now grown. We had our superstions, too. We never left the house without saying the Lord's Prayer and we were known for throwing salt over our shoulders and wearing special charms for safety. Wierd. I know.

Anyway found your blog through A to Z. Good luck.


Shelly
http://secondhandshoesnovel.blogspot.com/

jan said...

#17 in the challenge? What are the chances of that!! A good omen, I think. I'm #258--nothing special about it. Looking forward to following you in April.

ps.: Will you be at the Pennwriters Conf in May??

Tasha Seegmiller said...

This is a great post. My favorite number is 11 - I really like matching digits and this one just stuck. Glad to see you are participating in A-Z too - can't wait to see what you have in store :)

George R. Appelt Jr. said...

Great post (as always), my favorite number is 14 for so many reasons.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm really touched. Thanks for honoring Evan in this manner.

Sarah Tokeley said...

How sad that such a nice person was taken so young. I'm so glad you got your special number for the A to Z.