What's with Billions and Millions

I was just beginning to grasp the concept of a Million, when Billion replaced Million as the number of the time.

Once when my children were small, one of them asked me if I could count to a thousand. I told them I could, but that I never had. They didn't believe I possessed such a skill. And so I began. We were trapped in the car on our way back from the cottage. And so I droned on....... 134......283.....299...... 307.......... on and on and on and on. At some point they conceded that they believed that I did indeed possess such a skill. By that time, I had invested so much time into the effort, I wanted to complete the task. The car was filled with some mighty irritated occupants.    ......842...... 875.......899. My intention was not to be irritating, though I was, I wanted to discover how big One Thousand really is. We don't really deal with a Thousand THINGS in everyday life, though the the number flies through a day so easily.

I can remember when the concept of One Hundred ruled. There were those Hundred bottles of beer forever  on the wall. What were they doing there anyway ? How were they attached to the wall ?

Before One Hundred there was Ten. The now politically incorrect Ten Little Indians, as well as  the Ten in the Bed with the Little One.

I guess Two was the jumping point of numeracy in my life. Two said there was  more than One.

One just is. But sometimes One is too many.

Zero is the giant conundrum. This concept continues to fuel Doctorates in Mathematics, Science, Philosophy and Theology.

I don't want to go into the Negative.

For now I just want to stick to a Million and a Billion.

At some primary school somewhere children collected and brought together One Million bottle tops. This made for an impressive display. Being the sceptic that I am, I regretfully question the authenticity of this reality. It is hard not to imagine of all those little hands, One hand sneaking out One favourite bottle cap or adding just One more to the to the humongous pile. How many times did they count them ? Who was the Counter in Chief ?

I have decided to try to give up worrying about a Billion.

Although, what confuses me the most is there are two  sorts of Billion. There is One Thousand Million and One Million Million, both Billions.  Apparently One is British and the other is American. Perhaps some fine Scholar of Etymology should focus in on this discrepancy, as a pathway to Doctoratedum.  Perhaps someone already has. This must be important to some people.

Oh well, I think it best for me to leave the Billion Thing behind, maybe even the Million Thing too. Biblical scholars tell us in the bible Forty means many. That is why there are so many Forties.

I prefer to look forward to lying on the grass, drinking up the beauty of the night sky, this summer without attaching those infinite numbers to the magnificence.

My self has a finite capacity to understand it all.