14,545

Fourteen thousand five hundred and forty-five.

Depending on what you're talking about, that could sound like a very big number or a very small number.

That number of dollars would have bought you quite the sweet car not all that long ago. It would have bought you a pretty nice home not too much longer before that. It would barely buy you a nice used car today.

A number's significance, or insignificance, is largely based on its context.

Numbers are important to me. I tend to keep track of many of the most mundane things. I know my driver's license number, my credit card numbers and various other account numbers - among the many bits of minutiae I tend to keep track of. I really don't know why it's important to me to do that, but it is.

Fourteen thousand five hundred and forty-five is one of those numbers. 

Dad was born on August 26, 1934. 

He died on June 22, 1974. 

He died on the 14,545th day of his life.

That makes today a rather significant day; for today marks the 14,545th day since Dad died.

He has been gone for as long as he lived.

There comes a certain hollow feeling with knowing the significance of that number. It is even more poignant when I reflect on the fact that this day falls on Good Friday.

Fourteen thousand five hundred and forty-five days have done nothing to soften how much I miss him.