DUI on a thanksgiving night.

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by today, mostly everyone has enjoyed one, two maybe three Thanksgiving celebrations and not only are your tummies full, but so are your hearts.
memorable times spent with family, laughter, going down memory lane adding to the list of many blessings for which to be thankful for.

sadly, many people did not have the same night. some people had Thanksgiving be a night of despair and heartache.


Thursday night after we finished dinner, the kids began to get restless and we decided to head to my husband's cousin's home where we would be spending the night. As soon as the kids got in my husband promptly asked them to buckle up. 'there are a lot of people on the streets right now that have been drinking.''
no more than five minutes later, we came to a stoplight where an suv had been completely totalled from behind. the passengers were out of the car with arms flailing, obviously shaken and a minivan slowly driving off with one of the passengers of the hit car running desperately trying to catch up to it.

my husband asked the victims if they were okay, and the man out of breath responded. 'no, we're not but catch that girl. she is extremely drunk.'

we sped up a little bit more and caught up with her but safely keeping our distance. we dialed 911 and as my husband was speaking to the sergeant he was transfered to, i was observing how the driver kept on swerving in and out of lanes, driving over concrete medians and almost hitting other cars on the road. they were finally able to get a cop to where she was at and she was pulled over. they asked us to stop too to identify the vehicle.
the front of the minivan was smashed in and smoking, but that was not the saddest part. when the cop pulled the driver out, a young female apparently under age and completely intoxicated looked at us with a look i will never forget.
my heart went out to her. she was handcuffed and put in the backseat of the car.

at the moment, i was furious that people do stupid things and that she could've killed someone. my father was involved in a drunk driving accident and suffered only minor injuries by the grace of God, but other drivers involved in that accident suffered more. but then God placed in me something more. pray for her.

pray for her?

i don't know what led her to get behind the wheel after drinking heavily, but one truth is that she wasn't listening to God's voice that night. it may be that she's never heard God's voice. it may be she doesn't even know who God is, and is desperately fighting a battle within her. whichever her motive was, it wasn't the best. and that night she spent it alone, in jail, with her parents probably worried of the whereabouts of their daughter.
the truth of it all, is that there are many teens out there lost. some a little lost, some quite far away from home.
at that moment i thanked God that my teen sister was safely at home with my parents, that my children were safe. but at that moment i also prayed for her. that wherever life takes her, that God may reach her just in time.