Have You Seen This? Why turning 44 is a special palindrome milestone worth celebrating

A SANTA AT NASA — This morning I woke up thinking about palindromes. And, no, I have never uttered or written that sentence before in my life.

Palindromes are words, phrases and numbers that read the same forward and backward, and today I am having my fourth-ever palindrome birthday. For those unfamiliar with multiples of 11, that makes me 44 years old today.

This means that if I live to be 100 years old, I will only have five more of these special birthdays.

Recently, the significance of this birthday has become a topic of debate in my home because my son will be turning 13 in a few days. He argues that turning 13 (an official teenager) is worth more celebration than my fourth of very few palindrome birthdays.

So, as any normal human would do in this situation, I further researched the significance of having a palindrome birthday. Lo and behold, I found this video that proves that not only are palindrome numbers far and few between, but 44 is quite remarkable.

In the video, a self-proclaimed YouTube palindrome expert says 44 is also a syllable palindrome, which means the sequence of syllables repeats in reverse order (four-T-four). He further explained that this will not happen for another 22 years, when I am "six-T-six," and then another 33 years later, when I am "nine-T-nine."

Needless to say, I am going to celebrate this milestone birthday as any 44-year-old would: I'm gonna go hang a salami because I'm a lasagna hog. I may even drive a Toyota. More than likely, I'll just be Mom (also a palindrome).

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