Fact : Its been 20 years

 When I think back on all that has happened since June 23^rd 1992, 20 years went really fast. In the past 20 years so many epic things have taken place.

To name a few :

The first licensed Gay marriage took place

The first Black President was elected to office.

Our Country was attacked from the inside, the World Trade centers collapsed and the “War on Terror” began.

Most everyone has a Cell phone & You can rent movies from a machine at Circle K

The Internet became the biggest thing since sliced bread

Princess Di, Michael Jackson, &  Whitney Houston died *tears*

Apple revolutionized music with the ipod and most kids now have no idea what a cassette tape is.

David Lee Roth got back with Van Halen, AGAIN!

My sister and I both got married and each had 4 children.

Well the last one doesn’t mean much to the world but it means a lot us because our Oldest sister was hit and killed by a drunk driver on June 23^rd 1992. She will never know about any of these things nor meet her nieces and nephews.

                You see, 20 years ago, a lady went out for a few drinks and decided to drive herself home afterwards. She ran a red light, hitting our sisters car and changed our lives forever.  So often I hear conversations where someone is boasting to friends how they can “drive better drunk”, or that getting high has “no effect on them”, or even more that a “FEW” drinks is nothing and that DUI’s are stupid. Anytime I am in earshot, as you can imagine, they get an earful from me. I start off with this…”I knew of  a lady who I think said something like that once, she killed my sister” Usually dampens the mood a bit.

                Obviously people don’t leave the house intending to hurt anyone, only to have a good time. It’s the fact that any mind altering substance does just what it claims to do, alters our minds. In this state, most of us begin the process of making bad decisions. Often those decisions have been made in the past and nothing bad has happened, giving us further confidence in our abilities to make them again and again without consequence.

                Sadly, a lot of people won’t care much about a situation until they have been directly affected by it, we are no exception.  But it’s the people who have been affected that can get the word out. In hopes to open someone’s eyes the next time they are in that situation and keep them from hurting themselves or someone else.

It’s simple really.

               I have one friend in particular that proved this to me. She is a heavy drinking, party machine who never thought twice about getting home from the club. She was over to my house one day and I had a box of old pictures I was going through, I found a bumper sticker I had gotten from MADD when I used to speak for them. It said “ Someone I love was killed by a drunk driver”  I got pretty emotional needless to say. A few years later she called me to tell me about her night of drinking at a basketball game. She explained how her and 4 others piled into her car  at 12am in downtown Phoenix to head out to the bar from the event. When they pulled out on the street, a car in front of them at a red light had my bumper sticker… "Someone I love was killed by a drunk driver". She explained that she immediately went cold, pulled back in the parking garage to the amazement and anger of her friends, and hailed a cab. 

                That night changed her thoughts on always having a DD. Not everyone will listen to stories of another’s tragedy and change their actions, but some will. Think how many people are saved because of that and we have no idea? It’s enough for us to tell as many people as possible about our sister and her young life cut short at age 23 because of a person’s bad decision to Drink and Drive. Please drink responsibly, the life you save may be your own !