Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been shown signs to assist me in my path towards…well — something. I’m not sure where all these signs are leading me, but from what I’m able to figure out so far, it must be something important. Otherwise, I’ve been going through life making more sense out of random experiences than I needed to.
I don’t remember the first sign I ever received, but I can clearly recall the impact of my first premonition. Waking up one morning as a child, I headed straight to my mother and — somehow — I had a message for her.
"I have some numbers for you mommy."
"Numbers? What numbers?" she asked, somewhat confused.
"444," I replied.
To this day, I still don’t know where these numbers came from, but naturally, my mom did the first thing any self-respecting Black mother would do with such cryptic & important information…
…she went straight to the Lotto booth.
In all fairness, she actually gave the numbers to my Grandfather, who from there, promptly played these numbers (straight, not boxed — which actually didn’t make a difference) at the nearest IGA grocery store on the West side of Columbus, Ohio.
The next day, he won. I had picked the winning numbers.
From that day forward, the numbers "444" have persistently found their way into my life at crucial transition points, and have always been a beacon of hope within times of dispair.
For instance, shortly after my grandfather, Henry Warren, successfully capitalized on my numerical premontion, he unfortunately suffered a life-threatening stroke. After he was rushed to Mount Carmel Hospital and kept for several days for observation, I finally had to courage to visit him (along with my mom and sister). Our family wasn’t sure if he would make it out alive, but once we made it to his room, I felt an unspoken assurance that he would be alright. He was staying in room 44 on the 4th floor of the hospital, and a few short days later, he returned home with no residual effects.
As I grew up, these numbers continued to follow me, with pertainent events often occurring at 4:44pm, and other instances appearing in different ways. Well into adulthood, these numbers continue to be a sign of positive things to come.
While working for Accenture in January of 2004, I was assigned to work as the lead on a JPMorgan Chase project in Manhattan for several months at the beginning of the year. I was naturally intimidated by the weight of my first leadership role with a major American corporate client, and wasn’t sure I was up to the challenge. As my manager told me at the time, the role would have "more blanks to fill in, and less direction from management," which seemed daunting. Luckily for me, my fears were averted once I realized where my new client was located. For the first 4 month of ‘04, I successfully worked with IB Technology in JPMorgan Chase’s Park Avenue Office…on the 44th floor.
All that being said, I consistently find a reason to have faith in the direction of my path based on frequent occurrances of these magical numbers. That’s not to say that internal impusles are ignored in exchange for external guidance, but I truly believe that the repetition of themes, numbers, experiences, and suggestions in life often serves to reinforce the direction of one’s personal path towards self-actualization.
So, should I put all my faith in these numbers? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But at the moment, I choose to. After all, with my fellowship application to NYU’s Business School in it’s final stages, I can’t help but believe that their address in New York (44 W. 4th Street) is more than a coincidence.
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