Many years ago...When I was 15-16ish...A few of my best friends had curfews. They had to be home by midnight. I didn't have a curfew. My mother never gave me one, she trusted me to make the right choices...Which was a huge mistake on her part...But that's another blog for another day.
...So we had this system in place. We'd start drinking after supper, usually by 6 p.m. We'd get our party started early, so that they could be home in time for their curfew. Embarassingly enough... We did drink and drive. Well I never drove, I didn't have my license at the time. They all did though.
Stupid, moronic and believing we would never die and nothing could happen to us...The same way most teens now a days think. For us, to get in a car with someone who had been drinking all night for the drive home, well it was no big deal. It should of been. We were lucky in a way though, we never got killed or caught. It's a miracle I think.
...On this night we had my best friends parents jeep. You know the old jeeps where everything comes off, even the windshield? Well, we alway's had that jeep. That was our party jeep. We'd take it a good 30-40 minutes away from where we lived to our partying spot. Which at that time was a friend of ours Uncles camp.
We'd go there all the time. Drink, smoke cigarettes, get shit-faced...Ah...The stupidity of youth. On this particular night, I remember it so clearly...We should of learned our lesson. It should of been a turning point for all of us. It wasn't though, it was just one more hurdle on the way to get our friends home at curfew.
...There was at least 7 of us in the jeep. It only seated 4. We had the back flap down and a few friends were sitting there. Shonna was one of them. I was sitting in the back seat. I remember we were all laughing...So damn drunk. Had the music cranked full blast...It happened so quickly...One minute Shonna and I were laughing like idiots, the next minute I was screaming at the top of my lungs and no sound was coming out.
We had hit a large pot hole on the highway and she literally bounced off of the back of the jeep and started rolling down the road. I see this in my minds eye so damn clearly...She was just rolling down the highway, we were going 120 km at least. Carma was driving and her parents would kick her ass if she wasn't home on time. I don't know if it was the alcohol, or the paralyzing fear of thinking I was seeing a friend die...But I lost my voice.
...No one would pay attention to me. I was yelling and yelling and nothing would come out. Finally after trying to get all of their attentions and failing, I slapped Carma in the face while she was driving. At this point, I was hysterical, crying and shaking. It sobered me up quickly...She started screaming at me and pulled over...All I could do was point in the direction Shonna was...By this point we were a few miles ahead of her. I didn't know if she had been run over by oncoming traffic or what...Horrible. Terrifying...Should of been a wake up call...
Then everyone started screaming, "Where is Shonna? Where is she?". All I could do was point. I still had no voice...
...As they turned the jeep around I jumped off and started running down the highway from where we came...They were driving next to me...We found her...Sitting up in the middle of the road, slightly dazed and unsure of what had happened...We got to her just in time, for not 3 minutes later a giant transport drove by us as we were pulling her to her feet and getting her off of the road.
All I could do was cry...At that point...Everyone else was crying to...Everyone kept asking me what happened? My voice came back miraculously...I think the fact that we found her had something to do with it. I told them simply, "She rolled off the back of the jeep and none of you would listen to me, you just kept on driving."
...She ended up with nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises...She could of, and probably did have a concussion. But no one wanted to take a chance bringing her to the hospital with us all being underage and drunk. We went home...We often talked about that night afterwards...For some reason they all thought it was hilarious that I lost my voice...Me, I still found it scary. We could of lost her.
...I'm not one to preach...I've done my share of stupidity as this blog shows...What I would like you all to keep in mind though, is that we were all basically good teen-agers. None of us did drugs, stole or did bad at school. We just all got really drunk on the week-ends.
The worst part of this whole escapade was that this adventure didn't stop us. The next night we were on again. I think what a lot of people don't realize is that they can have really good kids...Bring them up right...Never have a problem with them...Then you'll find out crap like this later on.
...We should of learned a lesson and didn't...I hope, for the sake of others...That they learn their lesson. Or better yet...Heed the advice they are given by adults...I know it's a lot to hope for...But seriously...She could of died...We all could of...
If just one of you share this story with your teen-ager...It might help...Might show them that once, someone you knew was young too and did something stupid...Better yet, share your story with them. If you don't have one, use mine.
Fender.
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