What is it about the number three? Nearly every night/morning, before I’m able to completely relax, close my eyes, and go to sleep, I gaze over at the digital clock on my nightstand, dismayed to see the number ‘three’ once again staring back at me. “Again?!” I think to myself. Why not 12 or 1 or even 2? But no, my brain refuses to shut down before the ‘Witching Hour’. And even though it’s considered the ‘Witching Hour’, I experience nothing of note. There are no ghosts or apparitions hanging around or anything remotely exciting to help pass the time. Aside from listening to my husband blow up air mattresses and fell trees (aka snoring) for hours on end, the night/morning is about as uneventful and unstimulating as watching paint dry or grass grow. Most of the time, I toss and turn, and think about how hungry I am and how the granola with yogurt snack that I ate just before I climbed into bed didn’t quite do the trick.
That’s not the only time I have noticed the frequency of the number ‘three’. It seems like it gets nearly as much notoriety as the numbers ‘one’ and ‘two’. For example, I just watched the finale of American Idol. They had whittled the talent down to the ‘Top Three’ and were finally going to announce a winner. Spoiler alert, Chayce won. I really did enjoy this season. There were some exceptionally lovely people on the show, especially the folks that did end up in the top three (Grace, Willie and Chayce). I wish much happiness and success to all of them. Another televised event that you’ve probably witnessed if you’ve been on this planet for at least 4-5 years (or are old enough to care) are the Olympics. The Summer Olympics are taking place in Japan this year and are scheduled to start on July 23rd. It’ll be interesting to see how many people actually show up. When I was browsing through the headline news earlier, there was a warning issued to US citizens not to travel to Japan.
In the Olympics, as in pretty much all sports, when there are individuals competing against each other, the ‘Top Three’ are usually awarded the medals. First place receives gold, second receives silver, and third receives bronze. What I want to know is, who decided on ‘three’ in the first place? Why not 4 or 5? There are so many different kinds of metal to work with, it wouldn’t be that difficult to expand the list of winners to 5 total. For starters, there’s steel and aluminum and nickel and copper. I can tell you this much, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at any of them! When I was growing up, aside from the one time when I actually achieved ‘First Place’, the school Spelling Bee (in which I was awarded a paper certificate), I always managed to place 4th (or worse). It’s about like being awarded ‘honorable mention’ in an art contest. There’s no medal and no prize, just a ribbon to remind you that you came ‘this close’ to winning a prize but didn’t. Dang it!
If you’ve read many children’s books or nursery rhymes, for some inexplicable reason, ‘three’ comes up quite often. Remember Goldilocks? No, that book wasn’t just about some blonde-haired girl and her aversion to varied temperatures of porridge, varied sizes of chairs, and varied firmness in mattresses, it was also about three pretty ticked-off bears! And I cannot say I blame them one bit for getting upset! She ate their food, broke their furniture, and soiled their linens. There’s also ‘Three Little Pigs’, ‘Three Blind Mice’, ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’, and “Three Little Kittens’. What I’m really curious about is why do kittens need mittens anyway? They already have fur. It seems a bit excessive to me, but what do I know? When I read ‘Peter Rabbit’, I once again noticed the theme of ‘three’. Yep, Peter just happened to have three siblings, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail. And is it just me, or did anyone else notice (in Aladdin) that after the Genie was released from the lamp, he granted a total of not one, not two, but three wishes?!
It’s odd because I actually have three children and am from a family of nine (three x three). Did reading all of those stories, fairy tales and nursery rhymes, when I was young and impressionable, play some pivotal role in how many children I chose to have when I became an adult? It sure does make me wonder! Looking back, I wish I’d had at least one more. When you only have three children, one’s going to be ‘the oldest’, one’s going to be ‘the middle child’, and one’s going to be ‘the baby’. There’s always an odd man out. Not only that. Correct me if I’m wrong, but being ‘the middle child’ leaves much to be desired. From what my oldest son has shared with me, and from what I’ve heard from other ‘middle children’, being in the middle pretty much sucks. I wouldn’t know because I happen to be the ‘baby’ in my family. I am so grateful I didn’t make an appearance until the end because even though my childhood was hardly idyllic, I definitely had it much better than the rest of my siblings.
Want to know more about ‘the number three’? For a long, long time, it has been considered not just any number, but ‘the number’ of harmony, wisdom and understanding. In love, it’s thought to be a ‘magic’ number (don’t ask me why, I’m just pulling random crap off the internet at this point). It also represents the triad of family (male, female and child). In numerology, according to some lady on Pinterest, “Those who walk a life path with Number Three have unlimited creativity and almost superhuman abilities.” If you happen to be walking down the street and spot a ‘Tarot Card’ sign and decide to blow $40+ on a reading, if the ‘Angel Number 3’ card is selected, it is supposed to ‘represent growth, inspiration, inner guidance, and manifestation’. On Wikipedia, it is ‘the natural number following two and preceding four’. Duh. In the Bible, it is the number of eternal life. It is also used in the Bible a total of 467 times. Wow, that’s a lot! And have you heard of the Holy Trinity, ‘The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’? Make no mistake, my friends, there’s a theme of three going on there as well.
In photography, there’s the ‘rule of thirds’. For the sake of argument, I’m just going to call it the ‘rule of threes’. This term is also a writing principle. Speaking of writing, I’m running out of steam and ideas! I’ve had a total of two hours of sleep and my brain is finding it challenging to come up with anything further on this topic. I’m also mentally exhausted after listening to my husband talk incessantly about boats and ‘all things boat related’ in the last 12 hours. He actually went on Craigslist yesterday and found his ‘dream boat’. At seven o’clock this morning, he and I drove over, bought it, and brought it home. Ever since then, I have been schooled on ‘remote steering’, ‘the difference between lithium batteries, lead acid batteries, and gel batteries’, ‘the difference between transom-mount and bow-mount trolling motors’, ‘how much lighter aluminum is compared to wood and fiberglass’, ‘why you shouldn’t use downriggers to catch Walleye’, in addition to ‘the best location on a boat to place a Bimini cover’.
Help me! I’m ready to have a psychotic break!! My husband is really trying my patience!! I hear about boats morning, noon and night! I actually told him it’s tantamount to torture, having to listen to ‘boat talk’ hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month. I’ve never been a ‘drinker’ but I’m beginning to think it might be a good idea. Something needs to happen, and soon, or I’m going to lose it. I know there are social programs for kids in need like ‘Big Brothers’ and ‘Big Sisters’, do they have anything for wives in need? I mentioned in an earlier post that when couples take vacations, oftentimes, two leave and only one returns. We just happen to be leaving for vacation at the end of the week. When the vacation wraps up on the 8th of June, I just want to be crystal clear that if I return and he doesn’t, I have a rock-solid alibi. And if anyone asks, should he wind up missing, he had mentioned earlier that he was interested in taking a long sabbatical in Mexico or the Bahamas, or was it Costa Rica? I cannot be sure but he had plans. Just sayin’.
Alright, I’m out of here! I’ve got to get these old bones to bed or I’m going to be completely worthless tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!
My entire family is insane. 