I went through a pretty screwed up divorce, too. Damn that 'woman'. I hope you get through it soon as possible, with the best possible outcome.
You really do, though, seem to be suffering from selection bias. How many numbers do you see every day, or is it possible to see every day? You've
already mentioned the date, and the time, cashiers' tills, bank statements, sports scores, stock prices, telephone numbers, IP addresses, car license
plates, weather reports, Sudoku, and so on and so on. It's statistically very likely that you will see a pre-chosen 4 digit number with regularity.
We are exposed to so many different numbers each day, we simply ignore the numbers that have no significance.
Here's another example of something similar: Every birthday, I see one or more TV shows featuring someone's birthday. That seems strange, no?
Well, I figured out there must be a mundane explanation for this apparently phenomenon, and there was - I was only noticing those birthdays because it
was
my birthday, and so birthdays were featuring prominently in my mind on that day ('PRESENTS! PRESENTS! PRESENTS! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!' etc.
etc.). I've since noticed that it's far from unlikely to pass a single day while watching a decent amount of TV without seeing reference to a
birthday. I only thought it was strange that I was seeing birthdays on my birthday because I didn't notice birthdays when it wasn't mine.
So, to recap - we see 'special' numbers following us because we noticed them once - either because of their visual appearance, or because of
something they mean to us (birth date, phone number, etc.) Once we've noticed them, they'll stick with us, as we register a "hit" every time we
see them, but neglect to register a "miss" when we see a number that is not the same. That skews the results, impossibly, towards the elected
number, when in fact it's quite the opposite.
I'm not attacking you - I just think you're being slightly blind to other numbers you see.
As for the number not appearing since your unpleasant experience, well, I'd imagine quite a few lifestyle changes occurring since then, so to compare
the period of time before that, with the (brief) period of time after that, is another selection bias in and of itself.
So, you have two selection biases, and are surprised that something apparently out-of-the-ordinary is being revealed. Fix your selection biases, and
your special numbers will cease to follow you around.
Don't look to numbers for guidance - look to your intellect. That will steer you wrong a lot less than a random selection of arbitrary numerals
created and augmented by several different cultures across thousands of years. That's not their purpose, any more than a field of corn is meant to
drive a car.
Again, I'm very sorry for what's happened to you. I hope you get it all sorted out. If you're ever in Germany, let me know, and I'll buy you a
beer or seventeen.