Seven's

Image: Melanie_Hughes via Flickr.

Do you have a lucky number?  Is there one certain number that seems to be more prevalent in your life or the history of your family?

There certainly is in mine.  That number is “seven.”  Here is how it plays out:

My material grandfather was the seventh son of a seventh son.  You are probably aware of the once widely held belief that the seventh son of a seventh son was endowed with notable talents and supernatural powers. This belief persisted through the Middle Ages into the late nineteenth century when my grandfather was born.  Well, I’m here to tell you the only special powers my grandfather had, according to the family stories I heard, was that of being a ladies man and mean as a stepped on snake. 

My mother and father were both one of seven children. 

My mother was the baby of her family so she was the seventh child of the seventh son of the seventh son.

My mother and father each had one sibling with seven children.

My mother had six children in seven years, and then five years later the seventh child was born (making him the seventh child of the seventh child of the seventh son of the seventh son).  That brother was the first of the last seven children to be born for a total of thirteen. 

I am the oldest child and my first sister is seven years younger then I am.

I have nine brothers and seven are married so I have seven sisters-in-law.

Oh, and did I mention that I was born on July 7^th.  Or seven-seven.

So why isn’t seven my lucky number?