Column 3--Final

“I stole things…a lot.” “I was a bitch and I knew it.” “I started drinking when I was in seventh grade.”

Looking at her today, one never would have guessed such confessions would come from that mouth of hers. However, she wasn’t always that way growing up. One, life-changing event caused these imperfections at a young age but more so has helped her become that great person she is today, a strong-willed, big-hearted, outgoing, and caring individual who is occasionally stubborn and knows what she wants and just how to get it. But most of all to me, she’s my best friend.

Growing up in Arizona’s elite suburb of Scottsdale, McKenna lived a great life. She had a lot of friends, an overprotective big brother and two supportive and loving parents. It was summer year round in her world and that was just the way she liked it. One particular Saturday in February will remain in her mind for the rest of her life.

It was 1999, a warm February day in Arizona. A little convincing the night before had earned McKenna and her brother, Dan, the opportunity to spend the night at a friend’s house, an event of great deal when you are 12 and 15 years old.

Dan, a typical sports fanatic, teenage boy, rushed home from his night of fun, excited for a basketball date with his dad. Walking in the door and heading up to his room, he passed his father who seemed to be peacefully napping on the couch. When Dan returned to inform his dad that he was ready to go, he looked closer and realized his father was only a motionless, lifeless corpse. Home alone, Dan raced outside, dropped to his knees and began to pray.

When he was able to break from his overflow of emotion, he got on the phone and contacted his mother, Chirs, who was away in Colorado for the weekend. She took the next flight back to Arizona, but until she arrived home, Dan and McKenna would have to grow up too fast.

“When I got home that day, my Grandma hugged me and told me that my dad had had a heart attack. I knew in my mind that he was dead but I refused to believe it. Then, when my mom, Dan and I walked into the house to see him together it was unreal. It was the weirdest feeling, something I can’t explain. I saw him there but knew it wasn’t my dad anymore, his soul was gone,” McKenna said.

My best friend had lost one of her best friends that day. Jeff Irwin, a very well-known and likable person, suffered from drinking and drug abuse, which in the end got the best of him. An overdose of cocaine had taken over his body and caused his heart to fail.

Immediately after this tragedy, McKenna struggled. She stopped believing in God, started drinking often, began to steal and turned into someone she was not. The now threesome moved to Omaha, Nebraska where McKenna would search for that person she was deep inside. After an unpleasant morning due to a night of drinking, she decided this lifestyle had to go. “I thought to myself, ‘Why am I drinking when this is something that killed my dad?’”

McKenna cleaned up her act—big time. She didn’t have a sip of alcohol until her 21st birthday. She began believing in God again, the criminal in her ceased and she became the person she is today. “Yeah, that was a tough period to get through. But I strongly believe everything happens for a reason and the incident I went through and surpassed with my dad has helped me to be a better person in the end.”