Hobbits have much to commend them, including the celebration of half-birthdays – the date six months after (or before) your real birthday.  It turns out my half birthday is May 5.  AND, my 55^th half-birthday was 05-05-05!  I did not plan that.

Diane and I have our anniversary on September 9.  Our 27^th (3-cubed) anniversary was on 09-09-99 (all those 9s, each of which is 3-squared).  We also celebrated our 37^th anniversary on 09-09-09. The 37 does not quite fit the pattern, but it is a prime number – always worth looking for.  I did not plan that one either; it was Diane’s choice.

I also did not plan for open-heart surgery to have my aortic valve replaced on October 10, 2000.  The cardiologist said it should be done right away since he was worried about sudden death syndrome, and I was not into that at all. The result is that new valve turned 10 on 10-10-10.  The valve shared the date with Jacob DeYoung, who turned five that day.  I don’t think his parents planned that either, since his dad delivered him in the parking lot outside the hospital.

The one cool repeating number date event I did plan was the Elevens party on Friday, November 11, 2011.  My siblings and several friends arrived to watch the MSU Spartans play basketball on an aircraft carrier, take a wonderful quiz about fascinating facts of elevens, and try to stay awake until 11:11 PM. Sister Cindy had the unplanned part – her favorite team, the St Louis Cardinals, had just won the franchise’s eleventh World Series, having been 11 games behind earlier in the season and having won eleven playoff games on the way to the championship. She provided commemorative t-shirts.

Sorry, I got nothin’ for the other 8 repeat number dates this century, although I heard there were a record-setting number of weddings on Saturday, 07-07-07.