by Mary Snyder

Created on: June 05, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

When you deal with a death from drunk driving, there is no closure. There is always the question of why? As it is to this day for me.We had just found out we were going to have a baby, we were very excited and were just talking about going to see my husbands brother and his two children before the baby came. We were making plans when the phone rang. The very brother we were going to see was on the phone telling us what had happened. My four year old nephew was walking with his parents from a neighbors house to their house, when out of nowhere came a van, the woman swerved to miss hitting a parked car and ran over my little nephew.She literally drove over his little body. My sister-in-law held him in her arms as he died. The woman was so drunk she did not even know what happened. This happened on private property so the laws couldn't do too much to her at the time. Although the laws today are much tougher, people still drink and drive. To all of those who think you are a better driver when your drunk, and don't see the harm in it, maybe you can explain it to the victims and their families. My nephew would have been 27 years old had he gotten the chance to grow up. How do you get closure on that? Where is the justifiable argument to this? I can't think of any. I remember his laugh and his sweet voice. His crop of blond hair and big blue eyes. He had a smile that would light up any room and the goodness of an angel. He was innocent and sweet. He did not deserve the impaired judgement of a person who had one too many and decided to drive. The moment she did that she stared a whole chain of events, what I call the ripple effect of drunk driving.She destroyed one life completely by taking it, and so many more by her actions and the aftermath of it all affected everyone that knew us in one way or another. It's nice to think that the laws can control this, but in reality it is up to us as individuals to NOT have that one more drink and get in the car. Call a cab, call a friend,or know when you have had enough!

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