The title makes this post sound more ominous than it is. I was awakened at 3AM in the middle of a bout of hiccups. They were going on at regular intervals and light enough they were not painful, only slightly irritating. After all, they woke me up before my alarm, two hours early. When I sat up and got out of bed to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water, the hiccups strengthened, becoming way more irritating. I opened my bedroom door and took a step out. When I stepped through the doorway, I was startled by a sound in the kitchen and glanced up to see if there was movement. Of course there was not anything there, so I walked to the kitchen to choose a glass to fill with water. I realized while reaching for the cupboard door that my hiccups had stopped. Apparently, that little startle in my doorway was enough to “scare” the hiccups away.

The cool drink of water was refreshing anyway. I took it back to my bedroom, set it on the night stand, and began perusing the news online. Nothing positive, same old stories. Trump and Kamala are racing for the Whitehouse, calling each other names and pointing out why one is more deserving of our votes than the other. There was another senseless school shooting resulting in more death. Oh, and there was a car chase in Florida that was caught on camera from high above the freeway where the chase took place. This one ended when the driver of the car being chased clipped the corner of a pickup, sending the pickup in a tailspin across the road, and slowing down the driver so the more than 16 police cars that were chasing after the him could slow to stop behind driver, get out of their cars, guns drawn, leaving their doors open as a shield while waiting for the suspect to exit the now-wrecked undrivable car. They made the arrest and, I assume, eventually opened the closed road, so the miles of cars backed up on the freeway could make their way to their destinations. That was 45 minutes of my life I will never get back.

It is now before 6:30 AM as I sit and type this. My simple morning routine is complete. I am ready for the day, whatever it brings. Hopefully, it will not include more hiccups.