The Adjournment of a Well Functioning Group

The first time I had ever heard of the stages of group development: "Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjouring" (Adapted from O'Hair and Wiemann, 2012, pp. 278) was from my daughter who participated in a month long NOLS course, the summer of 2010, at the age of 14 years.  Although none of the group members knew one another prior to forming, by the end of the course they had successfully become a "high functioning group" (Adapted from O'Hair and Wiemann, 2012, pp. 278).  When the time for adjournment came, the inter-relationships of the group were deep.  Saying good bye to one another was not without a significant number of tears, and for Kira it included about 6 weeks of a deep sense of loss and grief... to the point where I was concerned about her health and well being.  The group has remained close through Facebook.  If grief, loss, and sadness are part of the adjournment process of a high-functioning group, that Kira's group was by definition a high functioning group.