42

I’ve never been a great fan of Douglas Adams. I read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in high school, but it didn’t excite me enough to want to continue reading the series. In one of the books, Adams supplies the answer to the ultimate question, to life, the universe, and everything. The answer is 42.

Everything has been coming up 42 for me lately. The street address of our apartment in New York is 42. While my mom is here in Paris, she’s staying in room 42 at a hotel in the 5th. I bought a pair of shoes the other day, size 42 (European size). They cost 42 €.

All these things are now related to each other in my mind. When I call my mom at the hotel, I can only remember her room number by thinking of my street address in New York. I used to have trouble remembering my European shoe size, but now I’ll never forget it because I purchased that pair of shoes for the same price. As for the Adams connection, I might have to go back and read the other books in the series to see if there’s some hidden information in them about my current 42 lifestyle.