Heartbreak

For any parent who knows the dangers that await our children once they leave our view, this has got to be once of the scariest. How anybody goes about consuming this much alcohol in such a short time is beyond me. But it happens. What is almost equally as heartbreaking as the loss of life is the notion that this girl's friends were complicit. What is also equally heartbreaking is that before long, many of this girl's friends will be right back where they left off yesterday.

Officials: Dead Woman Had Up to 40 Drinks

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A 19-year-old college student drank up to 40 beers and shots of liquor in an 11-hour period before she was found dead in a fraternity house, investigators said Friday.

Samantha Spady had a blood-alcohol level of 0.436 percent — above the 0.4 percent considered potentially deadly — when her body was found Sept. 6 at the Sigma Pi fraternity house at Colorado State University, Deputy Coroner Dean Beers said.

Spady drank the equivalent of 30 to 40 12-ounce beers or 1-ounce shots of liquor, Beers said, but her death was ruled an accident and there was no evidence of foul play. Spady was found fully clothed, and her body had not been moved.

Spady began drinking with companions at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5 and did not stop until about 5 a.m. the next day. Investigators said Spady and her friends started with beer but later switched to vodka.

Spady's body was found in a lounge of the fraternity house by a fraternity member giving a tour the evening of Sept. 6. Beers said Spady probably died about midmorning that day.

Absolutely heartbreaking!

In a story in the Rocky Mountain News, a friend of Spady's had this to say...

"This just doesn't seem like her at all," Tatro said. "Sam, she was a smart girl. If you knew her at all through high school, she wasn't getting in trouble. She wasn't out doing stupid things. She was an all-around nice girl. This was out of character."

Bruhn added, "She was the one who knew when to go home when she knew she'd had too much (to drink)."

When does that cursed moment occur in which a "smart girl" who didn't do "stupid things" become a stupid girl who doesn't do smart things?

And how do we -- as parents -- light the way when our light isn't what our children want to follow?

Why is it that some of us can watch Animal House and recognize the absurdity, yet others (unfortunately, too many others) see that film and others of its ilk as a clarion call?