"Sobering" experience

Preface:  My kids are all o.k.

We have four kids; they are 20, 21, 23 & 24, needless to say they keep me busy and full of worry.....All of our kids like to party and in my humble opinion they party too much.  I didn't have this kind of college experience but I know many folks did.  I have preached and preached about binge drinking, drinking and driving, etc.; every time they walk out the door I tell them I love them, ask who the DD is and remind them to make good choices & every time I do this they roll their eyes at me; probably like I rolled my eyes at my parents many years ago.

Our youngest daughter called last night about 6:30 p.m.; she had been hanging out at the pool with friends all day and it was clear they had been drinking.  She told me that she had 3 beers; I don't know if this was the truth or not.  She put one of her friends (a boy) on the phone; I really like the kid, he took her to the Prom and I know they both really like each other but have never acted on it.  He now has a girlfriend but he and Olivia are really good friends. He was obviously intoxicated; we chatted for a minute and he gave the phone back to Olivia.  I had been talking to her for about a minute and she said she would call me right back, she had to go.  She didn't call back......kids can flake out so I wasn't worried.

An hour or so later, I was hosting Bunco, it was a beautiful evening so we were outside in the back yard.  I heard the phone ringing but ignored it; my husband was working in the garage so he didn't hear the phone ring.  It rang again but I just let it go; for one, it is NEVER for me or it is a solicitor.  After about an hour or so I went in the house to get something and noticed that we had a voice mail, it was Olivia and the message said she was at the hospital with this boy; he had fallen off the balcony.  She sounded very upset but she stated that she didn't have her phone so there was no way I could call her back but she would call me back.  I then put the phone in my pocket went back to Bunco and waited for another call.  She didn't call back.

Fast forward a few hours, my friends were gone and still no call; at this point I was truly worried.  I went to Facebook (information central) and looked for updates on her page or her friends pages; I found one friend and sent her a note to call the house because I knew the girls had been together.  Finally at about 10:30 Olivia called, in tears......Tim was in the ICU at the hospital with a broken jaw, a broken arm, a crushed cheek and other unknown injuries.  He had fallen from a third floor balcony; needless to say, alcohol was a factor in this tragic accident.  He is in surgery this morning.  Olivia said it was so horrible last night to see his mom holding his hand as they pushed him into the ICU on a stretcher.

She wrote this on her wall last night:
After today I have learned about drinking!

I think this really had an impact on her; I sure hope it had an impact on her, it had a big one on me. Olivia is a wreck and she feels responsible for this tragic accident; it is so hard to see your child in so much pain.

Such a sensless and tragic accident........