A speech for Kelsey by Nicole Monk

On September 22nd 2011 at exactly 6am I woke up from my house phone ringing. I remember just lying in bed having the worst feeling knowing that there was something wrong. I remember thinking “oh my god Kelsey never texted me back last night”. Kelsey was always on her phone, it was like her prize possession so when she never responded to my I love you text it worried me. I replay the moments over and over again in my head every day.

When I found out who called my house and why they called my heart dropped. All I knew was that she got into a car accident the night before. Mr. Kramer told my parents to get a hold of our friends so we could visit her in the hospital. I will never forget walking back to my room and sitting on my bed, not being able to think of whom Kelsey and I were best friends with.

My mind just went blank. I snapped out of it and contacted a lot of people. Lindsay, Alex and I got to the hospital right after our friend Emily did. When we were close to Kelsey’s room Emily’s mom came up to us really upset and said “brace yourself,” I just thought "what the heck is going on?"

We were realizing that this was a lot worse than we thought. So many people came to the hospital that day to show love and support for Kelsey and her family. I am so lucky to have met and became best friends with someone that made that much of an impact on so many people’s lives.

She accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. She made everyone feel welcomed and loved no matter who you were. Kelsey had so many amazing qualities to her but the one I loved the most was how reliable she was. She was such an awesome friend.

I felt like I could go to her for anything and never feel judged. And I am sure all of her friends could say that. When she first went to heaven I remember thinking to myself , "how am I going to do this, how are we all going to do this." She was normally the to-go-to person.

Two weeks before Kelsey passed away her and I were in my room talking. She said to me “I don’t know what I would do if you died Nicole.” And I said to her “if you died I would probably stay in my room and just cry.” But I know now Kelsey would not want that. She would want us to all to live our lives to the fullest just like she did. Because Kelsey was such a social person she has many friends so we all have each other to lean on.

If I could say anything to Kelsey right now it would be that I appreciate and love her so much. I wish I told her that so much more than I did. Kelsey is such a strong independent girl and I strongly believe that she is okay and at peace. We may have lost Kelsey physically but she is still here. We gained a beautiful guardian angel who is watching over all of us.