Personal Narrative: Life After High School

It started out like any other Sunday, my dad doing the crossword, my sister watching television, and my mom walking the dog. I was sitting at the table doing homework.
I was immersed in my geometry assignment when the jarring chimes of my cell phone stirred me from my concentration. I looked over to see my lacrosse teammate, Emma, calling. I answered Emma and let out an innocent, Hello! Emma gravely asked if I had been on Facebook that morning. I had not, so I flipped open the laptop and logged in. Before I could read the post at the top of my newsfeed, Emma told me that Molly, our teammate, had been shot. I met Molly in the spring of our first year at high school after joining the lacrosse team. After try-outs, the JV team voted Molly and me co-captains. We were fast friends.
Unbelievingly, I asked Emma if Molly was okay. Emma paused, then regretfully replied, “No,” and burst into tears. Abruptly, my spacious kitchen felt awfully

small and my breathing became ragged. My mom returned from her walk, and my three family members hurried over after noticing the distress on my face and in my voice.
The Facebook post was a mere six sentences, but those six sentences verified a dreadful truth: Molly Conley died in a random drive-by shooting. My gasps for air became convulsive and loud; I collapsed into my mother’s arms.
Understanding the loss of my friend was incredibly hard, and I’m still not sure if I do.

Throughout the rest of high school, I was forced to deal with Molly’s death. Now, two years later, I can look back and see how much I have grown as a teammate, sister, student, and Christian. Fortunately, I had my faith to fall back on. I'm not sure where I would be without it. Everyone on the team dealt with Molly’s death differently, and for me, that meant involvement in YoungLife and youth group. After Molly died, I decided to love harder, which led to a stronger bond between my little sister and me. She and I became best friends in high school. I think that came from a subconscious resolution to live each day entirely. That carried into my schoolwork too. I learned to be persistent and to work hard to understand things that don’t come naturally, like writing and social studies. From my commitment to YoungLife, to qualifying for state competition in DECA to my bold personality, and daring confidence, I grew in uncountable ways after Molly

died.
I plan to get an education in college that will lead me towards a fulfilling and rewarding career. I want to work with kids, either as a pediatric nurse, or an early childhood teacher. I know that when I grow up, I will be able to make a difference in kids’ lives so that they too will have the tools to learn from things that hurt them, just like I did. I have come to the realization that everything doesn’t happen for a reason. I believe there is too much brokenness in this world for everything to be planned out. I have faith that God has a plan for all of us, but Molly's death wasn't a part of that. Through this realization, I am able to recognize what He wants for me, and all the good things that He has in store for me. The tangible knowledge that life can be taken away in an instant is the biggest motivator to take advantage of each and every opportunity given to me.