the belgian mom and the iraqi grandma. . .

i was amazed at this coincidence: a belgian woman and an iraqi woman were talking at the party we had last saturday here. abdul, the two year old, was hiccuping. the belgian woman said, 'my mom used to tell me when i hiccup that my heart is growing.'

'my grandma used to tell me that too,' said the iraqi woman. somehow, across thousands of miles, these two cultures share a tiny sliver of commonality. not the general commonalities of most cultures, but something so specific it is hard to believe. and between the two countries there is no common history or colonialism or conflict, the usual catalyst for sharing in modern times. a coincidence, pure and simple?