AP
Finished my AP tests. Both went well, I think. The Essay topics were easy enough. Sadly, though, that makes me nervous. Oh well, I simply will keep it out of my mind until the middle of July when I get my scores.
HEAVEN
After that, the next big event was Great-Grandma Helen's funeral. It was very beautiful, and I don't think it could have been improved upon. It was one of those bittersweet moments. I'm very sad she's gone, but I know where she is, and I know she's free now.
It DID cause the biggest game of Pre-Algebra catch-up since last fall. Oh well. SO worth it.
INTOXICATION
This past week in school there was a program called Every 15 Minutes. It was a 2 day long event that demonstrated the effects of drunk driving and driving under the influence. Both days, roughly two dozen kids had their faces painted white, with black circles around their eyes. They weren't allowed to speak, as a reminder that every 15 minutes, someone dies in an alcohol related accident.
On day one we met on the football field, and after a staged introduction, a screeching of tires and the blast and smoke of a car crash, a tarp was pulled back revealing two smashed cars, one upside down with alcohol bottles falling out of it. No one was moving in either.
The police were called in, then the fire engines and the paramedics. I guess it served as a training day for them too. Teenagers inside both cars were painted up bloody and gruesome. One girl in the car that the drunk driver had been driving was pronounced Dead on Arrival. The mortuary van was called in, she was put in a body bag, into the van, and away she went. Another was pronounced critical by the paramedics, and so she was airlifted to the hospital, and died there. (I must admit, I was jealous here. Although it was all staged, she actually got to ride in a helicopter!! All the way to the hospital!) The jaws of life were used to cut the top off of the upright car, and all of the kids inside wheeled off on stretchers, then into ambulances. The girl who was drunk driving was the least injured, and arrested on the spot.
On day two, we were called into the gym for the funeral. It started with all of the white-faced kids wheeling in a coffin to the front of the room. Each of those kids had to stay the night at the hotel; to really live the feeling as if they had died in an accident, they weren't allowed to go home overnight. They were all asked to write letters to their families; what they would say if they really WERE taken from this life. The parents were asked to do the same to their children. First a boy read his, one that had been involved in the simulation the day before. His was so heart wrenching. It was unbelievable. A girl shared hers next, which was almost as bad. Then two parents shared their letters. After that, a husband and wife stood up, the couple who organized the Every 15 Minutes program stood and shared their story.
Their son had been riding his bike home when he had been hit by a drunk woman driving her car. It was her fourth offense of DUI. Now the couple travels all over to try and stop things like that before they happen. Next came a small family, a mother and her two daughters. This one hit me hardest of all. The little girl spoke first, small and spunky, about my sister's age. I promise the two could have been twins. Her older sister spoke next, a girl about my age. Both were mourning the loss of their nineteen year old brother, who had been living near home, but not at home and had been sober, but had been out with drunk friends. It all just hit WAY too close to home.
It put me into one of the biggest funks ever.
MISS
JUST to drive the moral one step deeper, I had my own little experience Thursday night. I was driving home from a friends house a little after nine. I was driving a LITTLE fast through the meadow, but not more than 5 over the speed limit. It was just fast for me because I usually drive 5 under through it. Anyway, here is a little picture for better example:
The pink line is the direction I was going, the yellow X where my house is, the red X where the DRUNK DRIVER was arrested. Literally, the SECOND I pulled up in front of my house, the siren went off, pulling over the driver of the vehicle at the red X. He was no more than 30 seconds behind me. Creepy right? If I had been driving 30 seconds slower, my car could have gotten in a fight with that persons car.
PROM
All of this was planned perfectly, because last night was prom. It was nice, there are pictures on my facebook, and I hate them all. My date was a perfect jerk. Although we agreed to just go as friends, it didn't give him the right to flirt with and or compliment EVERY OTHER GIRL right in front of me. For the record, I didn't get a single "you look pretty" or anything similar from him. Just, you know, something you'd expect from your prom date. He ended up sitting away from my on our drive home and falling asleep on another girl's shoulder. However, I DID have fun, especially with all the 'firsts' in the night.
First:
1) Time in a limo
2) School dance
3) Time getting ASKED to a dance
4) Prom
5) Dinner at In-n-Out in a formal dress.
Needless to say, I declined going for food or more partying after, and just went home. Oh well. It gave us plenty to talk about in Laurels today!
LINK
Interested in the Every 15 Minutes program? Good. I HIGHLY recommend seeing one if you ever get a chance.
Every Fifteen Minutes
SADDStudents Against Drunk Driving
MADDMothers Against Drunk Driving
Drive safe, everyone, and have an awesome Memorial Day!
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1 comment:
So who'd you go with???
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