What's up with the number 17

What’s up with the number 17? For some reason, 17 is a noisy gong in my head today. My husband Steve was my 17th blind date. 17th! After #16, I had told my close friends and family that I needed to take a break from blind dates. I needed to step back and be OK being single. Deep down I knew I would eventually go on another blind date. My parents and both sets of my grandparents had all been set up. They all had the type of marriage I wanted. Deep down, I loved the concept of the blind date. Blind dates came with references and “background checks.” I had a feeling my “Mr. Right” was going to be a blind date…. But after Blind Date #16, I needed a break.

Before I met Steve, I was sure I was going to go on 30 blind dates before I turned 30 years old. I had the book planned. The title was going to be 30 before 30…. so when one of my closest friends at work told me that her sister wanted to set me up…. 3 weeks after blind date #16…. I said… I can’t… I’m tired…. I seriously need a break from blind dates.

But…. The kicker was when she said it was not going to be just a normal blind date. She told me her parents, her sister’s family, and her family were all going to a Polka Dance in Bee, Nebraska, and it would just be a bunch of people having fun together…. A Polka Dance! What?!?! How could I say no to a polka dance… can you imagine how great a chapter about a polka dance would be in my future book. So I honestly looked at her and said…. “Well… that would make a great chapter, so why not.”

Fast Forward to today, April 17th, 2020…. I have so many funny stories to tell from my blind dates before Steve, and honestly the crazy stuff that happened after I met Steve! (Keep in mind, we were engaged only 6 weeks of meeting each other and he truly is the jackpot husband!). I have great stories about living life full and hard stories that involve crying on the kitchen floor. I still want to write a book. I need to write the book. My title just changed.

Last year I paid good money for an intensive 12 week writing course because I felt it was time to write the book. (I only finished 3 weeks of the class). Ten days ago, I signed up for an immersion class that involves serious head work and amazing life coaching. Yesterday, I made it public to the group that I was going to start a blog by the end of the 31 day immersion course. The brilliant life coach, artist, immersion group “butt kicker” Leah Badertscher, coached me during our group call yesterday and told me to immediately jump off the call and post my first blog before the 60 minute call was over. We were already half way through the call, so that meant I had 30 minutes to do something that truly scared the shit out of me. But this kind of feet to the fire motivation is what I needed to stop talking about “some day” and just start the blog. So I started the website Third Down Punt yesterday. It is a platform I came up with during the writing class last year. It’s been sitting in my head for almost a year, so when COVID-19 was becoming real, I bought the domain on March 20th thinking I would blog through the quarantine. But, I still never did anything with it. It took the butt kicking from Leah… It took an immersion group of women cheering me on… But Third Down Punt officially launched! It will be the platform where I plan to put my ramblings about blind dates, cancer, parenting and living life full. It needed to launch, and as sweaty as I get typing this… It is time for take off.

So…. why 17? Today is April 17th. Steve was my 17th blind date, and we have been married 17 years this June. The blog is live and the number 17 keeps ringing in the back of my head… why 17? I know I need to tell my stories. I need to write a chapter about a polka dance that changed the trajectory of my life…. and I need to figure out why I love adventure, but hate the term… “New Normal.” I need to write.

So this morning I did a quick google search of the biblical meaning of 17 and now I know… Why 17.

According to biblestudy.org, in the Bible the number 17 symbolizes "overcoming the enemy" and "complete victory."  Whoa… Take that in…. OVERCOMING the enemy and COMPLETE VICTORY!

Fear is my enemy … fear of making spelling and grammar errors on a post, has always kept me from posting. Fear that people will think my ramblings are stupid has kept me from making this website live. Fear that this just becomes another thing I quit doing in 3 weeks has made me say… why start?

But what I know for sure is I have COMPLETE VICTORY in Christ. I need to write this blog. God placed writing on my heart so many years ago, it is time to overcome the enemy “fear”, and claim the complete Victory that Christ gave to all us.

So day one… April 17th… No Fear - Complete Victory…. Here we GO!