Cogito ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am.)” ― René Descartes

I am thoughtful, I’m a dreamer, therefore, I am a thinker and this is my greatest gift and my greatest source of personal conflict.  My thinking has  been used to calm waters, kept me out of arguments because I think before I speak, and it has helped me problem solve in many situations.  On the other hand, my thinking has caused me to create something that might not be there because, I think so much before I talk, that I have come to many conclusions that cause me suffering.  Many are right on, so I’m well prepared for responses; others are so off base, I’m shocked, and I find myself wishing my thinking rope wasn’t so long.

Today, I’m thinking about numbers, my cholesterol, how many views of my blog posts (almost 500), how many hours till I need to give blood, how many ounces of water I should drink to be well hydrated, how an average human has 7-8 pints of blood, and how I am going to give 1 to someone whose life depends on it.  I think a lot in numbers.

What age my mother was when she died, 83, how old my father is now, 90.  That I am 1 of 6 kids and I’ve been on Earth 55 years. That I have 2 children, ages 30 and 26, and 2 dogs, but only 1 husband and 1 cat.  How many years I’ve been married, almost 33.

Thinking in numbers can be so very humbling.

I also like to think about how many 10 dollar bills we’ve saved to do the 3rd reno job in our house, 83, and how that will just about cover what we want to do, and we can still go to the Sketcher store to replace the 3 pair of Sketchers that Eugene has chewed.

I think how Jesus lived for 33 years, and preached for 3 with 12 disciples, and how that changed the world, whether you are a believer or not, for over 2000 years.

Numbers — the number on the first home we owned, 752, and how I was able to teach our children a song incorporating that number and our street name so that if they ever got taken or lost, they could always sing the little ditty called “752 Oakley Avenue”…and get home.

Numbers are so intriguing. Thinking about numbers can be helpful, and sometimes numbers can cause so much concern, blood pressure, how many days until surgery, how many tumors, how many stitches from the fall…  Seriously, you can see how just thinking about numbers can put my blog word count — more numbers, mind you — to 403, and I want to stay below 500, because I would like to have more than 500 views on my blog, and I think that people don’t have the “number of hours in the day” anymore to linger over a blog about thinking and numbers.

So, I will leave this blog at exactly 500 words, in hopes that it will reach that number in views, because, I just really like to think about numbers, and that’s the one I’m thinking about today.