Saturday, March 10, 2012

Do NOT Drink And Drive!!!

Twitter is an amazing place. Especially if you're a NASCAR fan. We connect. We bond. We laugh together. Today, we cried together.


Last night a fellow Tweeter who went by the handle of @Jennjadedpink got in her car to drive home but never made it. She was hit head on by a drunk driver. She was airlifted to a trauma center and rushed into surgery. Her brother updated her followers on her condition. We all prayed for Jenn, for her family. Sadly, Jenn did not make it through the night. Two hours after the update that she was in surgery her brother tweeted from her account that he had lost his sister.


Sometimes we think we are invincible. This is usually a phase people go through when their a teenager. I can't speak from experience because I skipped that phase but I saw some friends or acquaintances go there. Some people never grow out of that phase. But what all the invincible-thinking people don't consider is there are others they may encounter who most definitely are not possessors of this super-power. If you drive drunk you just might get home in one piece. Or you might crash and come away practically unscathed. What about the other guy.


There was a time when I used to keep a bowl of hidden keys for all my friends who came over to party. If you had a drink you had to first relinquish your keys to the bowl. No amount of begging would give you those keys back until the next morning when you were stone cold sober. Period. It's easier to do that when you're young. Now my few friends who come to my house would look at me like I had three heads or something.  I can't dictate what another adult does, but I'm mindful of how much they drink. If it's more than one beer or glass of wine I bug them about whether they're okay to drive.


I adopted a personal policy shortly after my daughter was born. I NEVER get behind the wheel of any vehicle if I've had even one drink. Am I a lightweight who can't drink? By no means, I can hold my own with the best of them. But I refuse to drive if there is even a less than 1% chance I'm not 100% alert in that driver's seat. We have options! For me it's my wonderful husband. We take turns being the designated driver. Buddy up with a friend. Use a taxi. Drink somewhere you can safely walk home from. Just please, I beg you, don't get in that car if you've been drinking.


Thankful for: Today I am thankful for each day I have been blessed with, they are gifts and I hope I've used them well
My second thankful: The outpouring of love that I've seen over the past several hours from total strangers. Like myself. In honor of a beautiful woman whose life was cut short.


Lessons Learned: 
*NASCAR fans are the most loving, supporting, genuine group of people I have ever interacted with.
*You can not tell your loved ones often enough how much they mean to you. You truly don't know when the last time you will see them is.
*Every day must be lived to its fullest potential! Our days are numbered!
*Even driving one time drunk is one too many. 
*There is still a drunk driving problem in this country and it breaks my heart to think how people are so uninformed and/or uncaring of the consequences.


Please pray for the family and friends of Jenn, I can't imgaine their pain right now.

No comments:

Post a Comment