One of the things that I developed as a coping mechanism through years of feeling like my life was completely out of control was to look for signs that I was on the right path. One of the ways that started presenting was in the form of repetitive numbers; on the clock, my phone, or even license plates. I started noticing these numbers and I’d use it to distract myself from my reality... a little pick me up.

And as I started taking better and better care of myself I started noticing them more and more. (a quick search of “license plates” in my photos on my phone returned over 400 results over the past 2 years alone).

And then I started noticing what felt like crazy coincidental situations the more I moved my life in the right direction, like that time I was with my youngest daughter and the car in front of us, the car behind us AND the care next to us all had 555 license plates. We were TRIPPING out and laughing so hard because that was at a time that we all really needed to be reminded that everything was going to be okay.

Or that one time my wife and I ended up at a restaurant called Three’s, on March 3 (3/3) and we arrived at the front door at exactly 3:33pm. This might give you some insight into why we chose 2/22/22 as our wedding date (which was also a Twos-day).

Whether it was divine guidance or not, it certainly provided huge amounts of entertainment and really did offer up comfort when everything was uncomfortable. So I’m definitely one who pays attention to signs (after all those years ignoring red flags… seems appropriate 🤣).

Well… this is the sign that is planted firmly in front of my house.

And I often sit out on the front porch of my now home; a home that I can afford, a home that is safe, a home that is filled with love, and look at this sign thinking to myself… did the person who put that sign in know that one day a mom would be sitting here with tears of joy in her eyes because of it’s presence?

Probably not.

But it all feels very much meant to be. Because after years of heaviness, years of what felt like torture for all of us… this is exactly what is inside of this home. Children, at play. Children, at ease. And the gratitude I have is overwhelming. Every time we have a normal day. A day where there’s just, you know, joy… fun… laughter… play. The simplicity of life right now is just so overwhelmingly beautiful. It almost feels like the universe planted this sign whenever it did, in anticipation of my kids ability to be kids. Like it got installed the day I decided to fight back. The day I decided to face my fears, face the system and WIN.

Is that the case? I’ll never know and who cares. Because the truth of the matter is, life is what you make it. And you can shrug off things that give your life meaning as mere coincidence, or you can lean in, find the fun in it and obliterate your phone’s storage capacity with license plate photos. It’s entirely up to you. Whether you look for repetitive numbers, see hearts in the snow, get visits from dragonflies or think I’m ridiculous… one thing is undeniably true; at my house, there are children at play. And that is fucking awesome.