6.

That was his father. Born in the month of June. Worked at Phillips 66. When he left the family, he did so for California via Route 66.

8 was mom. Born in August.

2 was the artist, Robert Indiana (1928–2018), the number he also most closely associated with love, the word he’d become synonymous with.

“Numbers fill my life,” Indiana said. “They fill my life even more than love. We are immersed in numbers from the moment we’re born.”