Brendan Boyce

Miss Stephan

Career Development

February 26th, 2019

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that

responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

The 4th of July, one of the most exciting and fun days of the whole year, was one of my

favorite holidays. Filled with food, games, fireworks and much much more, just an amazing time

and the pinnacle of the summer. I fell asleep quite happily this year, with the whole day and

every activity going perfectly and I enjoyed time with my giant family and friends, but I woke up

to devastation. I woke up to the news of my cousin getting into a horrific car crash earlier that

morning, on her way home from her own 4th of July party. She had passed away on impact. She

was only 17, going into her senior year of high school in New Jersey. We had become distant in

the past few years, with her going down a bad road of drugs and alcohol. With my mom being

very protective of me, she wouldn’t allow me near her much. We were like twins when we were

little, always together and looking pretty similar, but not as much in the past few years.

After an amazing night I was awaken to the worse news I’ve heard in my life. My mom

woke me up and told me the news. I was lost in confusion trying to understand what happened

and it’s still hard to process. My whole family went to the service in New Jersey, with all of her

friends there that I’ve known my whole life. There was a “party” at one of her friends houses

after the service where we all dyed our hair in honor of her. When people asked why I did it,
instead of getting upset of sad I learned to embrace it and look at the good in an awful situation. I

was able to look at the good in any situation after that, with the constant thought that life is

precious and should be lived to the fullest at all times. It took awhile to learn this but it changed

me immensely.

This loss left me devastated, left in a sea of memories that I wish I could expand and

relive. I was in a time where I didn’t know what to do and we all wish we could’ve gone back.

But I couldn’t go back, and that’s what I had to learn. I learned to appreciate the good times you

have with people, since you won’t have forever with them. I can’t be stuck on what could’ve

happened or what I could’ve done differently to change everything. It was hard to accept that for

a while but it had to be done. Most people never accept that, they still reminisce on the sad and

awful parts of life and shut out every good thing and good memory they have.

Many people still haven’t learned to live and let go, but that’s what you need to do. I have

learned to live and let go, and enjoy life for what it truly is. You can’t let tragedy hold you down

for too long. My family and I now live by the motto “Smile like Sadie” due to her radiant smile

that was able to light up an entire room no matter what. We aspire to continue her legacy of a

pure heart that cured for absolutely everything on this earth. Her personality is what I live my life

trying to be, despite such a hard life for her and the absolutely tragic accident, I learned to

remember the amazing things and have found ways to find the good in every situation.