So, This Is What Daddies Think About...

"Honey, we need to talk..."

This is how my husband starts a conversation on a recent car trip home from visiting his parents. Molly's in the back of the van... peacefully drifting off to sleep. And Aaron hits me with the "we need to talk" line.

Oh, crap - what's wrong??? I think. "Um, yes?" I say in my calmest voice, wondering what's about to happen...

"It's about Molly's number," he continues.

Huh? I think. So I cleverly respond, "Huh?"

"You know, Molly's number... on her jersey."

Again, I reply, "Huh?"

"You know, when she plays sports - the number on her jersey. Seeing that decal on the back of that car made me think of it."

"Ok, but... Molly doesn't play any sports right now."

And that's when he explains it all to me: "Well, we need to talk about what numbers are acceptable to wear, and which aren't. You know, like 5. That one's great - it's George Brett and Albert Pujols. And 9 - that's Ted Williams, so that's a given."

My head is spinning, trying to process the conversation -- let alone figuring out how we got here.

Aaron continues as I nod along. "But not 13."

Ok, I need a clarification. "Why not 13? Because of Kurt Warner? (Because I thought we liked Kurt Warner.) Or not 13 because it's unlucky?"

"Good question - not 13 because of the silly reverse psychology of it: it's an unlucky number so I'll pick it to be bad and make it lucky for me."

Ok, that clears that up...

"Oh, and not 1. Ozzie Smith was no. 1 and he's arrogant. And 25 was McGwire - so that's debateable... And 99 is Manny Ramirez, so definitely not..."

Again, a clarification: "But wasn't Wayne Gretzky 99? And he's the Great One, right?" And shouldn't I get like 1,000 cool wife points for knowing this?

"Yeah, good point."

"Well how about this, can you make me a wallet card of what numbers are and aren't acceptable, so I don't bring home something like 10..."

"Oh, no," Aaron gasps. "That's Chipper Jones... we can't have that."

"Ok, not 10," I reply. "So if I bring home 18..."

"Oh, lord no - that's Johnny Damon.... traitor. We can't have that."

"Well then how about this," I begin. "When the time comes to sign up Molly for any sporting activity, you are hearby nominated to be in charge."

Aaron looks at me, puzzled. "What?" he asks.

"Congratulations!" I reply, proud that I've found a way to get out of the Number Conundrum. "And good luck to you."

Now, it's Aaron who's wearing the puzzled "how did we get here?" look...

So, next time I wonder what daddies are thinking about - I'm going to guess it's related to sports.