LUCKY NUMBERS WRITING CHALLENGE

The Significance of the Numbers 1–7 In My Own Life

A response to Karen Schwartz’s prompt expanding on lucky numbers

Karen Schwartz had found inspiration to expand on the lucky numbers prompt in Keeley Schroder’s challenge thanks to the brilliant article by Susie Winfield written in response to it. I’ll include the links below.

The challenge that I’ve been presented with today is to find meaning in every number from 1 to 7 and apply it to my own life. I think that a list/bullet point format would be the most appropriate and readable way to present this story.

Here are some random facts about the Sturg 1–7. I will list 10 items for each number.

Number 1

• The number of partners that I can safely handle at one time
• Roughly the number of month(s) that I was born early
• The elementary school spelling bees that I’d won
• The number of women outside of my family that I’ve loved in my life
• The day of the month that my birthday falls on (August, by the way, if you were thinking about getting me something…)
• The number of full-ride scholarships that I had won (and lost).
• The number of times that I had taken my written test for my driver’s license the first time.
• The number of kids that my brother has.
• A single digit in my social security number (and, no, I’m not giving you the whole thing, scammer…)
• The number of times that I’ve seen each movie in the original “Godfather” trilogy (it took me nearly 30 years of my life before I even gave them a chance).

Number 2

• The first number in my address for a large portion of my childhood (and we moved around a bit, so that is weird).
• The number of siblings that I have
• The last number in the year I was born (also in my lucky number, I wrote about all of this in my original lucky number story).
• The number of states that I’ve ever been registered to vote in (California and Pennsylvania).
• The number of vehicles that I’ve now called home for the last couple of years (box truck, now RV).
• The number of times that I ranked the top-scoring member of my high school’s Academic Decathlon team (the first and only time it had ever happened in school history).
• The number of majors in college that I started out pursuing an interest in.
• The number of times that I moved out of my parent’s house (the second time was the charm, not a third.)
• The number of stories that I try to write, on average, per day on Medium.
• The 2 in this last fact signifies that I nearly lived in the “Second City” (Chicago) for nearly 2 years (doubly significant).

Number 3

• I’m the oldest of three children (which just rewords a fact from my number 2 list).
• The number of cities that I worked in for my last employer (Rancho Cordova, CA, Rolling Meadows, IL, and Erie, PA).
• The number of schools attended from Kindergarten-12th grade (1 elementary, 1 junior high, 1 high school).
• The most jobs that I’ve held at once.
• The number of serious relationships that I had with the opposite sex.
• The number of years that I stayed in my first relationship.
• The number of community colleges that I attended before getting a two-year associate’s degree.
• The number of smartphones that I’ve owned in the last six years (I don’t feel the need to needlessly upgrade every year).
• The most amount of cars that I’ve owned at one time.
• The number of times I auditioned for American Idol in San Francisco (I auditioned a total of four times).

Number 4

• The number of years that I lived in Erie, Pennsylvania.
• The number of states that I’ve lived in (California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York).
• The number of tires that I’ve replaced in the last year.
• The number of siblings that my dad has who are currently living (my living aunts and uncles on my paternal side).
• The number of full men’s sizes that I’ve gone up in the last decade (L, XL, XXL, 3XL).
• The number of inches that I grew after high school (5'10"-6'2").
• The first number of my age.
• The first year I auditioned for American Idol (2004).
• The number of laptops I’ve bought for my partner in nine years.
• The number of times that I’ve talked to my father in the last 8 years.

Number 5

• The number of years it’s been since I was last able to work (August 2018).
• The last number of my phone number (again, scammer, that’s the only number you’re getting…)
• The number of nieces that I have.
• The number of places that my partner and I lived in since we left California in 2016 (not including our tiny home and RV).
• The number of members in my immediate family.
• The fifth time’s the charm (my current partner was the fifth in a line of relationships that hadn’t worked out in the course of a couple of years).
• Total official majors declared in college.
• The number of states between California and Illinois that we drove through when we left, excluding the two named (Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa, we took Interstate 80).
• The number of siblings that my partner has.
• The number of publications that I own on Medium (Digital Global Traveler, The Random Nerdiness Collective, The Community Building Movement, The Press Box, and Internationale).

Number 6

• The number of nieces and nephews, combined.
• The most nights in one week that I ever hosted karaoke.
• The last number of the area code (916) that I had the longest.
• The number of vehicles that I’ve had registered in my name in my lifetime (I rode public transportation for decades).
• The number of credit cards I had at once when I was last working.
• The total number of times that I have auditioned for singing talent shows (American Idol, The Voice, America’s Got Talent).
• The total number of smartphones that I’ve ever owned.
• The number of bicycles that I’ve ever owned.
• The time I used to set my alarm clock on for decades (6:00 am).
• Half of my lucky number (12).

Number 7

• The number of years that I stayed at one job the longest (karaoke DJ at the bar).
• The number of years that I’ve lived outside of California.
• My second favorite number after 12.
• The number of years that I hosted karaoke in total (Some of the most fun years I worked).
• The total number of publications that I edit for on Medium, excluding one self-publishing publication.
• The number of the month of my partner’s birthday (coincidentally, the day he was born has the digits that also add up to 7). Yeah, I know that our birthdays are only about a couple of weeks apart.
• The sum of the month and day of our anniversary. Our anniversary is at the end of this month (3/31). It will be nine years this year.
• The longest stretch that I was officially single in my adult life (2002–2009).
• The day of my mom’s birthday in the same month as me. I was her birthday present that year.
• Some part of my mailing address currently (one last time, scammer, you’re not getting the whole thing).

It took a lot of time to think about all of these facts. I took my time to make sure that I was getting all of the facts correct. I’m just happy that I was able to complete this challenge. I wonder if the rest of the community in Keeley Schroder’s writing challenge will complete this as well.

Karen Schwartz

Keeley Schroder

Susie Winfield

AMEastern, Autistic Widower (“AJ”), Karen Schwartz, Adrienne Beaumont, Bernie Pullen, NancyO, Robert G. Longpré — [he/him] — Canadian métis, Katie Michaelson, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Brett Jenae Tomlin, redkitewrites, Richard Bailey, Marilyn Flower, Keeley Schroder, Laure Dorsemaine, Debika Kumari, Michelle Jimerson Morris, Celia McKinley, Pamela Oglesby, Julie KingGood, Charisse Tyson, Amy Frances, Julia A. Keirns, Ravyne Hawke, Toni the Talker, Cathy Cremer, Pat Romito LaPointe, Harry Hogg, Tina, Kayla Tackett, C Cap1, Anna Itzel Cazita, K. Joseph, Brandon Ellrich, Misty Rae, Karen Hoffman, Deb Palmer, Susie Winfield, Vincent Pisano, Paari, Marlene Samuels, Ray Day, Randy Pulley, Michael Rhodes, Marlana, MSW, Robin Christine Honigsberg, Lu Skerdoo, Pluto Wolnosci, Paula Shablo, Bruce Coulter, and of course, me, the Sturg.