I ran into Joy Paige, a former student of mine who is now in her third year in college.

Of all the things I remember about Joy, I remember how she used to speak. She did so with noticeable space between her words. I remember when I taught her class about heartburn ( it was a health and nutrition lesson) and at the end of the lesson she acted out the symptoms of having heartburn and asked to go home immediately. Her speech was with the the perfect timing. While her acting was perfect, her request fell on death ears. I knew the tricks of a six year old.

When I ran into her as an adult, I listened to her speaking and I couldn’t help to notice that she spoke the same- with clarity- only this time it included touching her hair and an occasional hum or smacking sound. However her tone was the same. It was a strange observation!

When she filled me in on her success, she said verbatim:

So, yeah (hum), I am in my junior year of college (smack).

And I thought, you are picking up a lot up there at college- including a different way to speak- literally.

It would be something to run into her ten years from now and see if the space is still filled with hair touching, smacking and a hum.