"I LOVE YOU"

As I was walking to my car, leaving a play establishment with my kids, I noticed a woman with dark brown hair with bright colored streaks in it. We were the only two cars left in the lot and I had parked one spot over from her. I felt compelled to chat with her so I buckled my kids in their seats and said hello.  For those who know me well, you may remember stories I have told about what happens when I make chit chat with strangers- I probably shouldn't do it but my personality got the better of me and I approached her. I commented on her hair and how I liked it and we started to talk. She told me her hair grew back thin from the chemotherapy and radiation she had from having breast cancer.  Come to find out she is BRCA2. With me having BRCA1 we instantly had a connection. She got breast cancer when she was only 30.  She shared briefly how hard it was to be too weak to care for her 18 month old baby while going through treatments and her double masectomy.  She had just had a FULL hysterectomy 8 weeks ago that she said was recommended by her doctors because of the gene mutation and having had the cancer in her breasts. I shared with her my decision to have the preventative surgeries but had to keep it short because of my vocal 3 year old who was ready to go home and have lunch. I gave her a hug and while walking back to my car, intending to say something like, "It was great meeting you"or "I love that we met- what a coincidence",  instead blurted out -" I LOVE YOU!" Then said "I mean- I love that we met- um..." I put my head down and closed the car door and drove off laughing. We did exchange email addresses but I have the feeling I won't be hearing from her anytime soon. I DID love the interaction we had though. It reminded me that even though we are all on our own journeys, maybe even feeling a little isolated at times on this big ole planet we live on, that we are all some how connected more than we realize. So I say, let's all just be a little nicer to one another. You don't have to tell strangers that you love them but a smile goes a long way.