Teddy's Lucky Number

Teddy's got a lucky number.  It's 27.  It's been his lucky number his whole life.  Might have something to do with the fact that he was born on December 27th.  My spiritual counselor tells me that 27 is a very powerful number.

While Maxie was in the hospital, Teddy started seeing 27s everywhere: on a nurse's clipboard, whenever he would check the time....this continued after we got home from the hospital.  27s popping up wherever he looked.  When he went to get his Maxie tattoo, he realized he was connected to his little boy even more strongly than he ever imagined.  Maxie is also connected to 27 by his birthdate (engraved now on Teddy's forearm) 10-7-10.  27 became even more powerful for Ted.  He sees all of the 27s that follow him around as Maxie's way of letting him know that they are still together...that he is still around.  Teddy thinks that I doubt him, that I think his interest with numbers is looney (please, have you been reading my blog?  I am crazy with a big splash of OCD.....his fixation on a lucky number ain't got nothing on my bag of obsessions).

On Saturday night, our friend Erika came over for dinner.  She and Ted had gone to find some patio furniture for our deck that day.  Ted was telling her about 27 and all of the ways it shows up for us (because it honestly does....in fact, even though the doctor's due date for Baby M is July 25th, it comes up as the 27th based on his conception date.  We found out Tuesday though that if he isn't here by the 25th though, I will be induced  - so no 7-27 b-day is in the cards for Little M).  I am not sure if Erika was buying the numbers stories, but if so, she didn't let on.  She is one of those friends who has stood by us during this really dark time and indulged all of our stories.  Erika and her husband Ian were in Las Vegas Sunday - Monday and Teddy asked her to bet $20 on 27 at the roulette table.  He had very specific rules too: Only bet if 27 hasn't come up in a while, place your bet with a jovial dealer only, make it your first bet on the table ...  Erika promised to follow the rules and guess what:  Maxie came through for Teddy!  Erika called us totally emotional on Sunday night to tell us that she followed Teddy's rules precisely and 27 hit right away, winning Teddy $700!  The bet actually paid for our new patio furniture.  How cool is that?  I love that Teddy has a little numerical bond with his son and that it comes to visit him throughout the day.  It's really special.

** By the way, I feel the need (of course) to clarify my post yesterday.  I went back and edited it.  I meant to be clear that I think my mom and I are hurt by our difficulties communicating in the midst of this grief.  I wasn't talking about Ted and his mom.  I worried that might be misinterpreted.