11:11
11:11 refers to the two times of the day, both morning and evening, when all of the numerals on a digital clock are the same.
Significance
The importance of 11:11 initially existed and was observed as a moment of affection between Ken and Sharon Reddick.
For a good part of his married life, Ken was an over-the-road professional truck driver; a career which took him away from home for weeks at a time. Due in part to practical coincidence, and part serendipity, Ken would find time to call home and speak to Sharon and his son both in the late morning just before lunch, and again the late evening before getting some rest.
These two times would very regularly fall just past 11:00am and again around 11:00pm, and both started to notice that they were frequently on the phone catching up when the clock read 11:11. Over time it became less coincidence and more conscious effort that the two should be in contact at least during those two times of the day. Moreover, it was acknowledged that even if they weren't in contact, when either glanced at a clock and it read exactly 11:11, they could be sure that they were thinking about one another.
This tradition between Ken & Sharon would last all the way up to Ken's untimely death in an automobile accident in the summer of 1991.
After his passing, 11:11 became, if anything, even more significant in the Reddick family, and particularly for Sharon. Catching a glimpse of a clock at that time was a bittersweet moment of both remembrance and grief; both heartwarming memories and heartwrenching anguish. In a very real way, 11:11 came to represent love, caring, and the fragile condition of life.
To this day it is still standard practice and not at all unexpected for Jon to receive a phone call mid-day or late in the evening (just as the clock is at or about 11:11) from Sharon. There is never a message, or even a topic of discussion (nor is one necessary); just a brief call to say, "I saw the clock, and wanted to call."
11:11 has evolved from a special connection between husband and wife to a touchstone of affection between a mother and son.
Related Links
Outside of the significance of 11:11 to those for whom this Wiki is written, others have found special significance in those four numbers:
