Personal Tragedy Reaffirms Commitment Testimonial

"To be honest with you, I have always really stayed away from drugs and alcohol, just because they really didn't appeal to me, but after my aunt's death, I have hated the stuff with a passion. On Thanksgiving morning, we got a call from my Uncle that my aunt was killed in a car accident. My uncle and aunt had got a divorce but were still pretty close. He told my family and myself not to say anything to my 5 year old cousin, because he didn't want to ruin her Thanksgiving day.

We arrived at my grandma's house and my uncle was hysterical. He had found out that my aunt was drunk when she fell asleep at the wheel. Her car hit a fence and then a tree pinning her inside. The car started on fire and trapped her in. She burnt alive and conscious for over 10 minutes. The neighbors were awakened by the explosion and heard her screams from inside the car. They tried to get her out, but the car was engulfed in flames. She was pronounced dead on the scene. All that was left of her was a few ashes.

My aunt had two daughters 4 and 5 and now they no longer have a mother because she wanted to have a "good time." Telling my cousin that her mother was in heaven was the hardest and most heartbreaking thing that I have ever had to do. One time out drinking changed the rest of her family's life. I saw how much heartbreak and sorrow that drinking has caused in her family and I refuse to ever take the same chance as she did.

Some kids may think it is cool, or that it isn't a big deal. Well, I bet my aunt thought she was just going out for a good time and never would have dreamed she would not be ever seeing her little girls again. I still don't understand why anyone would ever take a chance with their life and drink. What people don't understand is in their decision to drink, they aren't just hurting themselves but others and I realize that and I am not going to be so selfish as to take that chance. I just hope others can and will realize that, too. And I know that there is always the selfish and stuck up kids that think, that won't happen to me, and she is just uptight.

I just wish they would realize that it can happen to them just like it happened to me, and if they don't want someone that they know, or themselves to end up as a bunch of ashes, or six feet under, they should stop now and have others around them stop, too."