She isn't 43 years old today.

[Jarqui]

70. 38 years ago, I lost my best friend to alcohol

He inhaled his vomit. His parents lied to me about it which really bothered me.
We'd been working on him for 16 years to get drugs and alcohol out of his life.
No stone was left unturned in that effort though at the time, we did not know nearly as much as we do now.
Unlike your daughter, he had a hand in his own demise.

But like you, every Sept 15th is another birthday I cannot forget that he is not around to celebrate.
I have not been able to visit his grave after the first visit. Way too painful.
I drive past the cemetery frequently. But I just can't go there.

What I have done since is tried to help others avoid that similar fate. 38 years later, I'm still doing it.
I try to tell myself "if I could just save this one, maybe it won't hurt so much ... maybe some good can come from this"
If I don't get results, I fight harder to get them. I will not give up.

Like your statistics on drunk driving, these kinds of deaths are preventable too.
We've got to get better at preventing them.
So I fight on.