Senior year of high school is supposed to be one of the best year of your life. The year where you hangout with friends, party, and have a great time but my senior year may have been the worst year of my life. From a bad football season to car crashes to passing family but it was all turned around by one influential person. My senior year was definitely one of the worse years so far.

It's August now and the official season is about to go under way. It's our first scrimmage and one of our top running back Devon and captain beside me is about to run his ass off all season because our team is going to survive on his speed. The Scrimmage has officially started and we start off great killing them on the outside play after play they just can't stop his speed. Then suddenly the one fatal play we run to the short side of the field he gets drilled from the side when I say drilled I mean you could hear the “crack” from the other side on the field immediately followed by the outcry of my injured teammate. He was injured before the first official game of the year.

During the slaughtering of a football season that I had, more bad luck was on its way. I was driving to a football player cheerleader bowling night put on by the cheerleaders. I was picking up one of my fellow teammates, as I was leaving for my fun filled night of kicking the cheerleaders butt at bowling, I was involved in a car accident. A car accident that resulted being my fault and totaling my car. I went to go through an intersection and my  mini van was t-boned.  I did not know till I was going through the intersection that I ran a stop sign. My parents were furious, they took away my license and wanted me to pay for the totaled car. That was very difficult because I had to quit my co-op job. A job that I worked every other week, 40 hours a week and getting paid $12 an hour, it was a pretty sweet deal. The main shop for this company was all the way in Sterling so I had no way of getting out there once I totaled my car. Not having a car really limited me on everything I was able to do, so I was never able to have fun without having to find a ride. I felt that I was a child again without my car, always having to ask to for a car or a ride. I was imprisoned in my house for the rest of my senior year. This was the second part of the trifecta that made my senior year go down the toilet.

The third piece was the worst one of all. In October my grandfather became suddenly ill and it was found to be esophageal cancer. It rapidly spread to his lymph nodes. It was terminal and the doctor said he wouldn't make it to christmas. This was around the time of thanksgiving so my mom at this point took FMLA leave from work which allowed her to be by his side for the time that he had left. My mom being a nurse it worked out good because she took care of him changing his dressings and getting him bathed and all that stuff. It's getting to christmas time now and like the doctor said he doesn't have long now. Everyone knows it but we just want christmas we pray for that he is around at christmas time, the time where we cherish our loved ones. He made it to christmas he made and he looked great he looked better. He was peaking which is a common thing to happen to terminally ill patients. They have a rise in their behavior and strength and stamina but that usually means that the time is near. Six days later on New Year's Eve he was gone I was sitting alone in my living room when I hear a knock at my door it was my dad. One thing about my dad is he is not a very emotional person so when he came to the door very broken up almost crying I knew I knew in the back of my mind he was gone and I was right my dad says “Joe your grandfather, he passed away.” I held my composure he asked me “Do you want to come stay at my house tonight?” I refused and told him I would be okay. This was a lie. As soon as he left I broke I couldn't control my tears and I felt empty inside I sat in the same spot in my house alone all night I did not move once.  My grandfather passing away put me in a rut, a rut that I feel like I would never get out of. A rut that seemed like there was no end. I found the end though, the end wasn't in the shape of a bottle or any kinds of pills but in a person. Someone who I could confide in, a person I could rely on, someone to comfort me, and care for me. This was my best friend, she saved me saved me from going down a path that I don't think there was coming back from. A path I don't ever want to be faced with again. In a way you could say this girl saved my life.

My senior year was the worst point in my life up until I met my guardian angel. My football team sucking, totaling of cars, and the passing of my grandfather were all things that contributed to the terrible year. I learned from these moments in life, to never take anything for granted because in the blink of an eye something or someone you loved dearly can be taken from you with no warning and no way of stopping it. Each and everyday I sit and wonder how I could have avoided these events but then again everything does happens for a reason.