Patterns of Life
My brother-in-law, Jeff, asked my husband and me a question when they were in Missouri for a visit a few years ago, and I haven’t quit thinking about this topic since. I’ve found it so fascinating and such a great conversation starter that I thought I’d ask you, our wonderful blog readers, to share your answers!
[image error]Jeff asked us what “patterns” we’ve seen in our lives—numbers or dates or seeming coincidences—that form patterns. As an example, Jeff is a second-born, married to my second-born sister. Each of the children in Jeff’s family had 1 boy and 1 girl, meaning his parents had 3 grandsons and 3 granddaughters.
My own parents had a dozen grandchildren, 6 boys and 6 girls. I am the oldest of 4 girls and 1 boy, and I’m married to the oldest of 4 boys and 1 girl. Now, of our 4 children, one of them has 2 kids, one has 3 kids, one has 4 kids, and one has 5 kids.
[image error]Our newest grandson was born on my mom’s birthday and our first granddaughter was born on Ken’s mom’s birthday. (Even more notable—and sad—is that Ken’s mom lost her only brother on her birthday and five years later, Ken’s dad also died on her birthday. So it was a very joyous day when our granddaughter was born on her Great-Nana’s birthday!)
This sweet girl was born on her great-nana’s birthday and they had a very special bond.
This little guy was born on my mom’s birthday!These are the kinds of details that were I to put them in a novel for one of my characters, people might think it was very unrealistic. And yet they are true in my real life!
There are other, less notable patterns in my life. For instance, our oldest and youngest grandkids were both born in December. In fact, 4 of our 14 grandkids were born in December. Our oldest son and his wife both have October birthdays and they also got married in October. Both of our sons-in-law were born in February and two of our grandkids were born on the same day in February.
[image error]These two cousins share a February 10 birthday!Two of my kids share May birthdays with me, and in any given year, our birthdays always fall on the same day of the week. This year they will all fall on a Friday. I’m sure the chances are greater in large families for things like this to happen, but still, I think these patterns are pretty rare.
[image error]Our granddaughter being born on my mother-in-law’s birthday was redemptive and sweet, but other than that, these patterns, for the most part, have no deep meaning or serve no life-changing purpose. But still, I think they are fascinating and fun to think about.
I’m curious if you have discovered any “patterns” in your own life? I’d love to hear about them in the comments—and especially whether you’ve found any meaning and purpose attached to those patterns of your life?
