Scholarship Essay

The Alert Scholarship: Write an essay about a personal encounter you or someone you know has had with drug and/or alcohol abuse.

 The saying, "friends come and go, but family is forever," never used to make much sense to me, but now I am beginning to understand it in a deeper meaning. My cousin, growing up, was my best friend, and we did everything together. We could make fun out of anything, and the best memories that I have are with her. It's only a shame that that's all they will ever be: Memories. She is not the same girl I played in the sandbox with, and she will never be that girl again.
 My cousin was my best friend when we were younger, and we promised to stay that way forever. Never were we to break that promise. I can remember spending every day with her, even holidays. We loved playing with water balloons in my backyard, and making up silly games with them. One summer, we went to the pool every single day, and the next summer when I broke my arm, she stayed out of the water with me, even though she really wanted to swim. My cousin was the first person to wish me a "happy birthday" at 12 o'clock in the morning on August 5, and she was the first person I told all my secrets to as we grew older. She was the first to know when I got my first kiss, got into a fight with my mom, and when I broke up with my boyfriend. That girl was one of the most important parts of my life as a child.
 As we got a little older, she moved to the next town over, but it might as well have been across the country. We didn't talk as much and we rarely saw each other. She started drinking, and drinking turned to smoking marijuana, and smoking marijuana turned into snorting cocaine. Since she moved to the next town, she has been kicked out of her high school because she missed over one hundred days, and now she goes to an alternative high school. She has also been to the emergency room multiple times do to alcohol poisoning, and she is only 17 years old. I would try to talk to her, and patch our lost bond, but it was never the same. On my last birthday, I got a phone call from her that made me cry, because I was shocked that she remembered my birthday. The day my cousin moved, is the day I lost my very best, closest friend.
 In the past year, I have talked to her more than the past four years, and I have gotten a better understanding of her situation. Since her parents got back together, she has quit drinking, and is starting to turn her life around, with baby steps. Her grades are better, and she is on track to graduate on time, which makes me very proud. Though things are different between us, and though they will never be the same, she is still my cousin, but more importantly, she is my best friend. Though we may not see each other every day, I still plan on having her as my maid of honor at my wedding, and she will still be the first person to know my biggest news. Even though we will never have the relationship we used to, we will still have one, and for that, I am grateful.
 Yes, it is true that friends will always come and go, but family is forever. For a while, my cousin was not my friend. In fact, I did not even acknowledge her at all. Even though she was not my friend, however, she was still a part of my family, and that is something that will never change. Also, I know that even when I grow apart from my high school friends, and childhood friends as we all move away and begin our lives, I will always have her, and that is how it will always stay. The memories I have of my best friend make me happy, and even though I lost her forever, I still gained a new friend through this experience. She is the same in a different way, but I still love her.