Diggory's closing monologue

Anissa, or Annie for those who knew her by a simple nickname, wasnt a girl of many talents. She couldn’t draw,  she couldn’t sing, she couldn’t play the piano, or the violin. She often slept in class,  and depended on friend for help with homework. She was always the first to need a band aid, or an ice pack in gym class. To many, Annie was just another teenager. Let me tell you, what I, and probably many of you here today saw in Anissa.  Anissa, with her ridiculous attitude and sarcastic humour could make anyone smile, no matter how down in the dumps they where. She was always out to lending a helping hand where it was needed, from helping a friend with a problem, or downtown serving soup to the homeless.
I’ve known Anissa 10 years. And still I remember the first day we met.  It was the first day of gr.3 at St. Francis elementary school. I had just moved into town with my family, and I was the ‘new kid’ in the class. At first Anissa and I where far from getting along. I remember the first thing she ever said to me was “boy, do you have big ears!”. And thus began our constant bickering of trifles of cooties, and who got to use the better swing, and who had to be ‘it’ in tag. It wasn’t until the 6th grade that Anissa and I became friends. Mrs. Roberts had put us in a group together for a social studies project.  Together we had to re-enact the arrival of Jacques Cartier to Canada. It was the biggest catastrophe! Anissa and I stumbled over our lines, and fell over, and everyone laughed when she accidentally hit me with a plastic arrow. Our embarrassment brought us together and became a simple inside joke as we started spending more and more time together during reassess and on weekends.
Our friendship only grew as time passed.  Finally we together started high school. Anissa seemed determined. She said, “there are 3 things in high school a girl needs to survive, a large circle of girl friends, a boyfriend, and a cell phone.” for a year and a half she begged her parents for a cell phone, thinking with it would come sudden popularity, and boys at her feet. Finally, right before the second semester of gr.11, Anissa got her wish, and was so happy with her little phone that she barely noticed when the friends and boys didn’t come. But shed stopped caring about things like that. She started focusing bits more on her studies, knowing that she soon wouldn’t be able to be as carefree and easy going with gr.12 and graduation approaching.  Anissa didn’t have a set career plan. All she knew was to live in the moment, and to this day I believe from the depths of my heart that Anissa has no regrets.
Gr.12 came along, and Anissa was passing her classes as well as she could. But as spring came to a close Anissa changed. She had a near death experience when almost being hit by a car. At first she seemed fine., we joked about it. It was nothing. But slowly the driven, and happy girl I was proud to call my best friend started to fade. At first she would just complain of bad dreams, but it progressively got worse as she started losing consciousness during the day, and calling out to people that did not exist. Anissa was diagnosed  as an unstable schizophrenic the day before graduation.  I don’t believe Annie was crazy. Not my Annie. The Anissa we all knew died the day of the accident. Though her grave will today and forever say January 16th 1991 to  July 23rd 2009, let us all know, and let us all remember, the real date on that grave should be marked at April 11th 2009.
As my own selfish wish, I have one last thing to say.  I loved Anissa. And I still do love her. More then a friend, more then a sister, more then anyone else, I loved her. Love is to strong a word to say to early, but it has to beautiful a meaning to say it to late. Anissa was never to late. I wish I could have learned at least that much from her, for if I had only seen the world from a perspective close to hers, I may not have needed to make such a confession to you today. So I hope that you have learned something today. Something from Anissa, and something from my mistake. When you leave, go live your life in the moment. Love first and live incidentally. Do not let yourself live with any regrets.