Everyone remembers their first sip of alcohol, no; I'm not talking about that time my dad tried to trick me by giving me a sip of beer to be funny, saying it was grape juice to have me spit it out, disgusted, to hear the response, "Remember that taste when you're older and want to drink alcohol."

I'm talking about that very first night with your friends you'll never forget, how would things be if that never happened? My middle school friend group was having a sleepover for my best friend's 14th birthday. It was a typical Vermont, December night with the 6 of us. We were running down my friend's steep snowy driveway in our $1 shoes we bought at the dollar store earlier that day when we went to get our friend gag birthday presents, such as a lacy lime green thong and other knick knacks that she definitely didn't keep and that I don't remember.

We went down into the basement to get some brownie mix that was conveniently kept next to my friend's dad's beer stash. It went from innocent to not so innocent pretty quickly. We started to get excited and anxious when one of us had the idea to drink some of the alcohol. We sat on top of a table in the basement after my friend's parents went to bed and I had my first sip; Shock Top Raspberry Wheat beer, I remember thinking that it actually tasted really good, (sorry dad). After we had a few of those, one of my friends and I shared a Heineken, which to this day is the only time I have ever drunk it. I thought that it tasted like weed and piss.

The other morning I was waiting in line to order food in the cafeteria, feeling pretty beat from the night before when I ran into my friends. She recently switched rooms and told me about how one of her roommates went out for the first time all year, the previous weekend, when her boyfriend visited. That conversation got me thinking about how different my life would be if I never had my first sip of alcohol and never got into drinking.

If I never had my first sip of alcohol, I probably would have a lot more time devoted to my school work, as I would have less time spent on getting ready to go out and a lot more nights would be spent in the library or doing homework and studying.

If I never had my first sip of alcohol, I wouldn't have hungover mornings where I would sleep in until late afternoon or possibly skip class due to nausea and impending headaches.

If I never had my first sip of alcohol, I would have so much money saved up. Think about how much money we have spent the past few years on buying alcohol, and overly expensive cover fees for clubs and bars. IMAGINE how much money I would have saved up. It's seriously crazy. THINK of all the things I could be buying!!! Clothes, concert tickets (okay; I would probably want alcohol to go along with those), food, vacations, the possibilities are endless, just like I wish every bottle of Svedka I have ever bought was.

If I never had my first sip of alcohol, I would have a lot less crazy, funny, irreplaceable memories with my friends. I'm not trying to say that I need to drink to have fun or to socialize or just when I'm doing something with my friends. Yes, of course, we would have crazy, funny irreplaceable sober memories; we still do now. Even though sometimes I think about what would happen if I never had my first sip of alcohol, I still have no regrets about the times that I have had.