Divine Inspiration, Cosmic Intervention, Communication from Beyond or Just Good Old Plain Coincidence

Through the course of life, you come across instances where you just can’t seem to explain why something has happened. You’re lost, far from home. You pull over to ask directions and the first person you stop, is a long lost friend from high school. You break down on the highway on a rainy afternoon. You’re stranded, miles from anything or anyone friendly. Before you can even think of what you should do, a car pulls up behind you, and it’s a car load of coworkers coming home from a ski trip. They hadn’t even realized who it was when they decided to stop and help. Your friends "forget" you in the Boston after a night of partying. You’re in a section of town where you shouldn’t be. You've lost a contact lense, you don’t have your glasses, you are out of money and your car's at the train station 25 miles away. Then a cabbie offers to give you a ride. He drives you all the way home, and he won’t accept any money for doing so. Why do these things happen? Is someone, something out in the universe trying to tell you something? Is it just good luck? Or is it all just an unexplainable coincidence.

I had an Aunt that was fascinated by the number eleven. No, it was more of an obsession. Everywhere she looked; everywhere she went she saw the number eleven. It was on the TV, it was on the clock, it was on the license plate, the wall, the number of the building. It was everywhere. and she couldn’t figure out why. Was a long deceased relative trying to tell her something from the great beyond? Was God sending her a message? Was the universe trying to warn her of some impending calamity? It was all unknown, but that didn’t change that fact that the number was everywhere.

This particular Aunt was my father’s older sister. She and my dad were close. As a result, she was always at my parent’s house. Every holiday, every birthday, every long weekend she was there. I used to tell my friends she was my backup mother. She needed to be around just in case the starting mother got hurt or couldn’t play the next game. This fascination with eleven eventually became a family joke and a source of ridicule for her. My father would tease her mercilessly. “Look Mary, there’s an eleven”. It would be two knives lined up next to his plate. “Look Mary, there are eleven people at the table” (2 parents, 8 kids plus Aunt Mary = 11). “Look Mary, its 11:11”. And so on. And Aunt Mary would try to get the rest of us to help figure out the meaning of all the elevens. It couldn’t, just couldn’t be a cosmic coincidence as my father kept saying, there had to be a reason.

My Aunt passed away a few years ago. It was like losing a parent. After she passed, I started noticing elevens all over the place. At first, I made a little game of it. Whenever I saw an eleven, I’d say things like “Oh, there’s an eleven, say hi to Aunt Mary”. It was kind of nice; it made me think of her. And thinking of Aunt Mary made me smile. Then I started to notice, I was saying “hi” all the time. What was this? Why am I starting to see eleven? Is there really something to this obsession with eleven? Is Aunt Mary reaching out to me? Other people in the family didn’t seem to be seeing eleven. Why was I chosen? What is the meaning of this? It was kind of spooky.

Then one night like a bolt from the blue, I had a revelation. I figured it out. I had an epiphany. I had a moment of clarity that brought the world into focus. I had figured out the meaning of eleven. I only wished Aunt Mary was there to tell. Was God trying to deliver a message? Was some great force of the universe trying to relay a warning? Was Aunt Mary or some other relative from beyond reaching out to the living? The answer was NO!!! It was much simpler than that. Why hadn’t I or anyone else ever seen this before? THE ANSWER IS…….it’s when WBZ TV Channel 4 takes its first commercial break during the 11:00 news.

And there it is. What does a 70+ year old woman who lives alone do at night? She watches TV. And if you’re watching regular TV, when do they go to commercial? I know. The first commercial is at 11 minutes past the hour. Check it out. Watch the news on network TV before you go to bed. They always go to commercial at 11:11.

So why were she and I seeing all the elevens? Because once you are tuned into something, you start to notice it everywhere. Pay attention. Now that I’ve brought this to your attention you will, at least for a short while, start seeing a lot of elevens. They’ve always been there, you just haven’t noticed. There was no great cosmic conspiracy. God’s not trying to talk to anyone. There is no message from the great beyond. There’s just Channel 4 taking a break.

I still say "HI" to Aunt Mary when I see an eleven. You should join me. You’ll soon find that it makes you smile. I know it would make her smile. I must admit though, I miss the mystery surrounding the number.