Jennifer West is among fifty women who have won a getaway with Oprah Winfrey by entering the O Magazine contest called "Live Your Best Life." The contest required that participants write, in fifty words or less, why they deserved the prize. Thousands of people entered and Ms. West wasn't among them. Sarah Hall, a mother who has never met West, filled out the entry form on her behalf.

Jennifer West's "soul mate," Coty West, was a private in the Army. They had planned their whole future together. On Nov. 28, after only a little over four months of marriage, Coty West died in a bombing attack in Baghdad. "I've had my whole entire world turned upside down," Jennifer West said. "You have your entire life planned out and then in a matter of two seconds, you have to start all over. I'm a 23-year-old widow."

Hall, who read about the death of West's husband in her local newspaper, said that she couldn't stop her own tears as she looked at a photograph of Ms. West at her husband's funeral. "She looks just like my daughter with her long auburn hair," said Hall, whose daughter had just started the ROTC program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "I thought, wouldn't it be nice if I could win this for her. I can't bring Coty back, but I thought it would be great if I could bring some new beginning to her."

"I think this will be good because Coty died Nov. 29, and I have not stopped since," West said. "I haven't had a chance to get away from anything. I'm just kind of hoping I can take a step back and get rid of all of the external forces and figure out what I need to do, to come up with a new plan."

West leaves Sunday for Arizona, where she will join forty-nine other contest winners meeting Winfrey. The women will receive a week of pampering at a spa and attend inspirational lectures. Oprah will be also hosting a birthday party for West, who turns twenty-four on Monday.
"I just want to be happy. I hope to figure out how to be happy again," said Ms. West.
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