Thirteen Sips

A funny little moment.

I was right in the middle of teaching when, "HICCUP!"
Okay, hiccups and teaching don't mix. I tried to control myself, "HICCUP!"
Well that wasn't working.
I went to find my water. Of course while I'm doing this the class is a bit oblivious but chaos slowly begins to creep in. I am distracted and they see an opporitunity.
I'm looking, I'm looking everywhere and it's getting loud. Students are restless.
Of course while I'm looking, "HICCUP, hiCCUp, HIccUP!"
I'm getting annoyed all the while knowing that teaching a mini-lesson and hiccups will not work.
Okay, found the water. Then I suddenly hear one of my softest spoken little girls yell out over the chaos, "THIRTEEN SIPS, Mrs. Hubbard!"
A little startled, I look out into what feels like a sea of little beings all spread around the carpet, "Who said that?"
"Thirteen sips, I said it!" said little Jolie. She was beaming a bit and everyone had kind of stopped in their tracks at her exclamation.
"Thirteen sips?" I asked. Then her story told me that apparently not everyone was oblivious to my hiccuping.
"Yeah, that's what my grandma told me. When I got the hiccups for the first time we were at her house. She got me a glass of water and told me to take thirteen sips. It really worked and that is what I always do when I get the hiccups. Try it!" She said.
"Uh, okay." So I took thirteen sips. The class counted along, and sure enough it was like magic. It was as though someone had waved a wand saying, "hiccups be gone!" And they were gone.
I waited a moment, you know you do this. You question, are they really gone. You don't want to be fooled. I waited. The class waited. I took a breath and went back to work.
We moved on and I learned a little something from Jolie's perfect little small moment, thirteen sips is all it takes!