I knew this day would come someday. My parents tried to prepare me when I was just a young girl. But now the time has come and I am in total shock. I got the sad sad news today that one of my best friends in the entire world, Chelsea Anderson, has passed away and gone to heaven.

I met Chelsea when I was 8 years old. She was a bit older than me but appeared much younger. She had a condition, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She was diagnosed when she was 2. Her grandparents, Vance and Wanda were our next door neighbors and very close family friends all of our lives.

I’ll never forget when I heard the news that the family would be moving to Anacortes from Neah Bay. We were so STOKED. We would be entering the 7th grade together and it was going to be a blast! I wasn’t the slightest bit worried about her “fitting in” or whether kids would stare or think she was different. In my world, she was my friend and I’d stick up for her till the end. She was in my PE class. She didn’t have to participate but she’d sit by the stage and enjoy watching me hating PE. I’d blow her shit about it and she would laugh at me while she did her papers etc. She never really seemed to mind watching everyone run and jump and play. That’s what I admired so much about her.

We’d often walk to the hospital after school and go to her physical therapy sessions, buy up all the jolly ranchers in the gift shop when we waited for her gold shots, and come to my house for some Mtv, crude jokes, and many bouts of pure laughter. I loved when my parents would toss us some cash and we’d walk all the way to McDonalds and back. We’d stop at Commercial Market along the way and raid the candy counter. Sometimes we’d flip people off that were driving by if they dared to stare at us.

I remember almost getting kicked out of the movie theatre watching Pet Cemetary because we were laughing so hard and couldn’t stop. I remember watching “faces of death” while eating pizza rolls and spitting out the chewed up remains of our snack because it was so gross. I remember driving my dads truck, just her and I listening to pink floyd driving the loop road at washington park. I remember making “super dooper sandwiches” and stuffing our faces till we almost puked. I remember catching tad poles over at the middle school swamp. I remember shoplifting outliner pens (remember those?) and writing on a car at he pool. We heard a “hey you!” and I swear to God, Chelsea ran across the street, jumped across the sidewalk and sprinted, yes SPRINTED across the field and down the hill by the tennis courts and I COULDN’T KEEP UP. That was amazing.

I remember, we were like 10, when she had part of her hip bones put into her feet at Seattle childrens orthapedic hospital. She had a walker and two casts on her legs. One day, We had an uncontrollable laughing spell. It took forever for her and her walker to get in her grandmas house to find that it was occupied! We booked it to my house and got in and both ours were occupied. OMG, we thought, still laughing so hard. She kept saying she was going to pee her pants. So we got back in at her grandmas and she got to the bathroom door and… you guessed it. Right down her casts! Omg we laughed and laughed at that for years to come. It wasn’t so great at the time but she was so brave and life was so wonderful to her that she was able to keep her chin up through almost any situation.

She had a very contagious laugh that I will always hold dear to me. Her resiliance and strength taught me alot in my younger years. Skills that I would take into my teenage years and beyond. Her light hearted spirit will forever be a part me. She stood by me through thick and thin. We prank called the fire department together. We got into a car wreck on graduation day together. She stood by me through the birth of Taylor 10 days after graduation. And she was there for me when I put him to rest last year. I could go on and on and on. II will never forget her.

Chelsea, I am so glad that we got to talk this last summer. I know you were suffering from depression and your knees were losing their screws. I thoroughly enjoyed our 3 hour phone call and I am even more glad to have run into you at the doctors office before I was forced to move out of town. My mother and I were just talking about you last weekend. She said she saw Megan and that she mentioned you hardly came out of your room. Now that I had a car that was running and I had got back on my feet again, I was going to come see you. In fact, I sent a facebook message to the captain of Jakes boat just YESTERDAY hoping to find him so I could find out exactly how you were doing before contacting you.

Chelsea, I want you to know that you were a true inspiration to me. If it weren’t for your strength and perseverance throughout the years, I don’t know how I would have handled the unimaginable this past year. I have always admired you, loved you, and held you dear. You are not just a friend or a best friend to me. You are like my sister I always wish I had. With that being said, everytime I hear Bon Jovi, Violent Femmes, Poison, and the like, I will shout to the heavens, “Rock on, sister!”

Now run, girl, run run RUN with God. Run with Taylor. Jump and frolick with your grandma and grandpa Anderson. You are no longer in pain. You are no longer limited. I now have yet another angel that I know will always be watching over me and my family. I will never forget the last words we both said to each other…. “I love you”

RIP Chelsea Dawn Anderson