Dear Evan:
Today is 11-11-11. Some people think it’s some sort of magical day; others are writing it off, other than the usual Veterans Day remembrances.
Me, I just think it’s neat. For one thing, it’s one of just a dozen days like it per century. The next is 12-12-12, and then I’m afraid I won’t see another configuration like it before my death. And you? With as long as our family lives, and modern science, I bet you’ll be there for 01-01-2101.
Enough of the future, though. Let’s talk about today. 11-11-11 is fun to think about (however briefly), and I hope you get my love for little riddles or, more appropriately, pattern recognition. When I was a boy, my parents got me books of brain teasers, riddles, rebuses, anagrams, that sort of thing. I loved the word games most of all, and would go around rearranging or reversing words in search of some (usually absent) hidden meaning.
Just don’t go overboard. Some people are doing that with today, insisting that some arbitrary (and oft-changed) configuration of months and days and years has cosmic significance. It has exactly as much significance as you give it. Forget returning messiahs or universal consciousness or whatever else people thing the day will bring. For me, 11-11-11 will mean coming home from work, kissing your mommy, sharing a family hug, holding you cheek-to-cheek, laughing when you stand, and putting you gently into your crib.
That’s more than good enough for any day.
I love you,
Daddy
