About a year and a half ago, time seemed to stop. I came home from school and my mom had tears in her eyes and an unsettled look on her face. She told me that late the night before, our family friend had been killed by a drunk driver. I could not believe her at first, it just seemed impossible for me to understand. I had coped with relatives or family friends passing away before, but never so unexpectedly, so young, and so unjustly.

Keri Anne DeMott was only twenty years old when she left us, and because I am turning twenty in a few months, it is a chilling reminder of how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away. Keri was always such a loving and kind person and her family wanted to make sure that people became aware of her life.

The Keri Anne DeMott Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to sharing Keri's story with young people to help prevent drunk driving so that other lives are not tragically lost. Bill DeMott has worked with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Florida Highway Patrol to raise awareness about the victims of drunk driving. He also speaks at high schools in central Florida. This certainly has to have an impact on the students, because hearing such a personal story is impossible to ignore. Even though nothing can change what happened in the past, it is important to do everything we can to prevent this from continuing to happen in the future.

Today to keep the memory of Keri Anne DeMott in our hearts, there was a Walk Like MADD event held last year in 2016, and this year in 2017. The main event was held at the University of Central Florida, but my family was able to attend another walk in northern New Jersey, where several of Keri's relatives live.

Even though it was very emotional to hear her cousins and uncles speak, it was a very important time for us to gather together to show our support and love for Keri and her family, and the remembrance of why we need to bring awareness to it.

It is unacceptable for anyone who has drank to get into the driver's seat of a car. Cell phones can be the most simple solution, one call to a friend to pick you up at the end of the night could be the most important decision made in the entire night. A cheap ride home from a service like Lyft or Uber makes it absolutely impossible to make an excuse to drive drunk.

The lives that drunk drivers risk are not only their own, but the lives of every stranger or friend that they may encounter. The drinks that you have could take away someones daughter, best friend, or cousin.