143

Although I was too young to remember, it is told that the number 143 was always present on the back of every envelope of every letter that my father mailed to my mother while serving in the army. It’s code for “I love you”. The number represents the letter count for each word.

It’s a number my family still uses in correspondence to one another and one I sign off with when e-mailing my husband at the firehouse or jotting a note to my kids. And, because of its special meaning to me, I had a rubber stamp made with the number to use on various pieces of my collage art.

The other day I found the exact numbers, all by themselves, laying in order at an antique store. Those numbers now greet my family as they enter our home.