Counting in 8’s

So, I have known for quite some time that my precious husband marches to a different beat. He is a musician, an artist, and that means he is “a creative.” I’ve been aware of differences between us before. Like when I spend time with the Lord, I like to journal and write… when he does, he likes to compose music and write poetry in songs. When I listen to music, its background noise… when he does, it’s an experience in “active listening.” He spends long periods of time contemplating tones… I prefer to read books for hours at a time. You get the point.

But today, I learned something about him that I find positively weird… but is part of that different beat I mentioned. He counts in 8’s. Not in multiples of 10, like the rest of the world, but in multiples of 8. Let me explain.

We’ve been on vacation this week and have managed to waste a lot of hours playing the card game “Nertz!” Object of the game: to play the most cards, the fastest, on little community piles of cards in the middle of the table. Each player has an individual hand, and they all play on the community piles. When someone finishes playing all their cards, they yell “Nertz!” and the game comes to a halt. Then you count out all the cards played in the community piles and see who wins. When I count the cards, I make little piles of 10 and then count how many multiples of 10 there are. But Andy on the other hand makes little piles of 8 and then counts how many multiples of 8 there are. It just makes sense to him. He thinks in 8’s. 8’s are musical rhythmic phrasings-- duh! It’s so interesting to be reminded by simple things, like playing cards, that artists’ just think differently. How beautiful!