Drink_Dont_Drive,_Do_the_Watermelon_Crawl

A year ago I could have been considered what some people may call a lost cause. I partied like a rockstar everyday of the week. I lived like there was no tomorrow and probably could not even tell you what day tomorrow was. My mom and dad were unhappy with my choices, but continued to stand beside me. I was always reassuring them that I was going to go to school, I was just not ready. Honestly, I was ready to start school. I hated people asking me “So are you in school'” It was embarrassing enough to have to answer no, but then I would have to tell them I worked at the Trophy Case as a helper. The owners were great people, but the job was horrible! I hated going to work every day! Driving to work everyday, in the back of my head I would think, if I don’t go to school I am going to be working crap jobs like this for the rest of my life! I knew it was time to make a change, I just could not seem to throw the emergency brake on the party bus! On December 13, 2008 that brake was thrown on for me. Every Thursday night you could find me at the same place, Shenanigans. My best friend at the time, Cheyenne Butler, was with me as usual. Looking back, I think what brought us together was that we both liked to party and we were not in school. Along the way to Shenanigans Cheyenne and I sing “If You Drink Don’t Drive, Do The Watermelon Crawl” by Tracy Byrd. We succeeded in our mission (to get drunk) at the bar and make our way to the car. On our way home we decided that Taco Bell would be great! We drive back into town and order about five of everything on the dollar menu. Most importantly, my double stuffed bean and cheese burrito. I was ready to tear into that burrito, but to myself I think hey, Im drunk! I cannot eat while Im driving! I will get pulled over! I decide that I will wait till I am safely at home, on my couch, watching South Park. I make the turn at farm road 2821 and highway 75, and thats when I see the flashing lights. That night I received a DWI. I passed a sobriety test and refused to blow into the breathalyzer, which sent me straight to jail. Refusing to blow was an automatic suspension of my license for six months! My dad picked me up that morning and he was fighting back tears. At that point, I knew I had hit rock bottom. My dad was hurt. I had let him down again. My mom would not even talk to me for weeks. When I did talk to her, all she did was cry. My priorities had to change and I knew they had to change now. Getting into school was my first priority to tackle. I knew I did not want to work under other people for the rest of my life. Nor did I want to work for nine dollars an hour till I was forty years old! My entire future was at stake if I did not go to college! Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to be an attorney. I knew I needed to get into college and put my dream into action. I applied in the spring semester and had to take my ACT test two times till I passed it! In the fall of 2009 I was accepted into Sam Houston State University. Placing the call to my mom and dad, to tell them I had been accepted, made me feel that finally, I had slowly started the healing process with them. I could hear their joy in their voices. For the first time in months, they were proud of me. I had cut them deep with the DWI. They expected so much more from me. Neither my mom or dad are college graduates. Since I was little though, they always strongly advised me to go to college. I wanted my family to be proud of me and I knew that getting into school was going to be the first step. The DWI changed everything in my relationship with my mom and dad. Still, till this day, I receive sly jokes about it from my dad. My DWI was dismissed, after fines and lawyer expenses of over eight thousand dollars. During the summer of last year I had to work two jobs, since my dad had cut me off financially. Still I could not afford my apartment, so I was forced to break my lease and move into my Moms garage. Out of all the aftermath, the one thing that sunk the lesson into my head was the alcohol awareness classes. The information I learned there literally scared me. I learned about a girl, my age who was in prison for 40 years due to intoxication manslaughter. She was not a raging alcoholic, just a 20 year old girl doing the same thing I use to be doing. I never wanted to be that girl. Still to this day, at 21, I preach to fellow friends, If you drink don’t drive do the watermelon crawl.