By Chris Spangler
My favorite number is eight, but my second-favorite, appropriately, is two.
The date is what’s called a palindrome, meaning it can be read the same way both backward and forward. And because it’s all twos, it can be celebrated outside of America too, in nations where the date is written starting with the day followed by the month and then year.
Now, Groundhog Day also was a palindrome, on 2/2/22, but it fell on a Wednesday. And 2/22/2222 will be a Friday.
So this marks the last day in our lifetimes that we’ve drawn a two flush on a Tuesday, and the final time there is a full line of twos until Feb. 22, 22222, exactly 20,000 years from today.
Now, palindromes haven’t been all that uncommon in recent years. The Farmer’s Almanac tells us that there were 22 in 2021, including Jan. 2, the first U.S. presidential Inauguration Day to fall on a palindrome date. The next one will be on 1/20/3021.
Last year, there were 10 days of five-digit consecutive palindromes: 1/20/21, 1/21/21, 1/22/21, 1/23/21, 1/24/21, 1/25/21, 1/26/21, 1/27/21, 1/28/21 and 1/29/21.
So far this century, there have been 11 other months with similar patterns, such as 02/02/02 and 12/12/12. And we’ve observed other interesting dates worthy of note, such as 1/23/45 and 11/11/11.
Of course, they’re all just moments in time, something to check off your bucket list. A good reason to celebrate by, say, clinking glasses at 2:22 or, if going by military time, 22:22, on 2/22/22.
Two’s company, after all.
But if you’re reading this on Wednesday or thereafter and missed out on Twosday, don’t fret. Every day this week through the end of this month is a palindrome: 2/23/22, 2/24/22, 2/25/22, 2/26/22, 2/27/22 and 2/28/22.
You can count on it!
File photo/public domain.
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