I remember with joy a night, several years ago now, that my grandson Sam spent the night with his papa and me. I remember it because when I tucked him in, he prayed like an angel.

This was so memorable because when Leanne began teaching him to pray at the age of two or three, he’d kneel by his bed and utter one quick sentence before looking up at her and asking, “Is that enough?“

In a response to a facebook comment a few weeks ago, I said that I don’t have a special number, like my daughter who was seven on 7/7/77, like my brother who celebrated a very important birthday on 09/09/09.

A student kindly reminded me that I do, in fact, have a very special number, which I mentioned more than once during my years of teaching. That’s true. I’ve mentioned it in classes and in speeches I’ve given. How could I forget?