The truth is, if you are here, you have already been a tremendous help to us and you probably know this story. But here it is, anyway, because you might want to share it with your friends and family who are asking what you've gotten yourself involved with.

Magic. Connection. Healing.

A small object caused a good friend of Dawn's to comment on Facebook that she missed her mother, who had died a year prior.

Dawn shared with her friend that she regarded such things as "trippers", and recounted how Indian pudding made her cry in the supermarket aisle after her father's death. Tripper, not trigger, because not all such memories are traumatic. Mostly, they come as a vivid surprise.

Having a word for the phenomenon seemed to help her friend.  Because she was in the middle of a Buddhism and Japanese Art class, Dawn was looking for a topic on which to write her final paper.  Thinking about samsara, attachment, and loss as possible topics, Dawn shared the story on her page, and asked her friends whether they would help her frame her final paper by sharing their trippers.

Forty-five responses later, the short story "Trippers" began to take shape.

The story became the basis for a screenplay that she wrote for her digital storytelling class. More trippers stories were shared. The concept grew from a three minute story to a thirty minute short film.

She took the script into Susan Woll Steinberg's class at Harvard Summer School, where Susan and Kevin Sweet worked with her to test the script on screen.  The incredible summer cast pulled together, and in two long weekends the team created eleven minutes of edited video.  And more trippers came in. More people have signed on.

And as we've been making this, we've been talking, sharing, processing our stories. Crying and laughing a lot.

We think we have something special here, and we are so glad that you are part of it.

Thank you, and pass the word.