We had just sat down at a table in the back of the room. My husband and I sat close together in the room full of strangers. As others mingled about, we quietly observed. An attractive, petite woman chose a seat beside me. I turned to greet her and began asking a series of questions. Just a few really. The third question, one whose phrasing I no longer remember, is the one that granted her freedom to open the floodgate.