Oh, Seven

2007

Thanks to Paul Coffey my life as a non-obsessive person changed forever. I have only one real OCD and that is a strange allegiance to the number 7.

When I looked at the calendar and realized that this would be the year of '07 I was super excited. You see, when I was a Pee-Wee in hockey, which is the first real time you get to pick out a number, I chose number 7.

At the time, the early '80s, the Edmonton Oilers were the NHL's dynasty franchise, and with players like Gretzky, Kurri, Moog, Fuhr, Messier, Lowe, Huddy, Anderson and Coffey to name a few, every aspiring hockey player watched the Oilers, and had a favorite on the team.

Gretz and Mess obviously had the most fans, but as a defensemen, I was drawn to Paul Coffey. Don't ask me why, I just liked him. He was number 7, so I was number 7. From that day on.

Now some 25+ years later, I am still number 7 in everything I can be. My closet is full of adult league hockey jerseys, co-ed soccer jerseys, and my old official playing uniforms all with the same number.

You might think, "Oh I have a buddy that is the same way." I have actually met a few people with the same obsession. Only one other with the 7 obsession, and he took it as far as I do. Everything...passwords, logins, pin numbers, my youngest son's name has 7 letters, Steph and I were married on March 7th, my oldest son was born on the 17th (it has a 7 in there!!! Thanks God), my snowboard and wakeboard are both marked with my number of ownership, the bill of hats, my tools, my next tattoo, my climbing gear, in fact, Steph has bought 3 shirts that have the number 7 on them not so much because they were cool, but because she knew I would love the number thing.

Obsessive you think? I haven't told you the crazy part of this 7 obesssion. During my sophomore year at SDSU while filling up with gas I needed just a litte bit to top off the tank. I just let it run and it shut off automatically at $7.77. Since then I would always try to have a 7 somewhere in the amount when I bought gas. Be it in the amount or in the volume of gallons, it didn't matter...just had to have a 7. I'm still doing that today! Every time, but now it has to be in the actual price. Steph loves the game and encourages me to keep the streak alive everytime we fill up with gas. No, not really.

So you can see this 7 thing is a problem, or a blessing whichever way you look at it. I'm just excited that the whole year is now the year of '07.

Happy New Year.