Smile Sighting #48

This one takes some explanation.  We have a group project due in Women Studies 333 (Women in Leadership).  There are four girls in the group including me.  We'll call them "M, B and C."

As you might already know, my Dad died while deployed in Iraq in 2007.  Right before the semester began (at the end of December), C's sister died in a nasty motorcycle accident.  Then, as we're preparing to give the presentation portion of our group project, M's Dad has a massive heart attack (ends up making it, but it was hairy for a while there) and B's cousin dies.  It was a mess and we were scrambling to try to get this done in the midst of their personal crises.  The professor ended up extending the paper portion of the project because, apparently, we were not the only group having issues.

We met the Tuesday before our Thursday presentation to finalize details.  We walked over to the Memorial Union food court and started to hash out how everything would go.  Suddenly, our conversation took a turn and we began to discuss our personal experience with death (and near death).  This ended in all four of us either full blown bawling, or with a good amount of tears flowing.  I should note hear that NONE of us knew each other before this semester.  In addition, none of us had worked together or talking extensively with each other before this project.  Purely because of shared experiences, we clicked and had a bawl-fest in the middle of campus.

We all left pretty somberly, but emailed each other following up to make sure we were all "okay."  The next day class came around, we discussed how that whole conversation went down.  One of the girls said, "Wow... that was intense... we just had a hard-core Ya-Ya Sisterhood moment."  She followed up later saying that, "She felt she had FINALLY made a real connection with somebody on campus."

So, I know this isn't exactly a Smile Sighting dripping with giggles and rainbows, but it still made me smile inside.  Sometimes, you find the right person at the right time who serves a purpose you didn't even know you were in need of.