From Adam Bashaw
There are some people who come into our lives and somehow make it better and shape who you are.
Anne Akers was such a person for me.
I loved Anne.
In high school, she was my sherpa to a higher level of asymmetrical thought. She was a radiant ball of unadulterated light who smelled like spring and spoke like summer. She was my Mad Hatter, whose quote below would plausibly been something Anne might have said:
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would.”
I can still vividly picture her flawless, elfin teenage face with its impish grin, eyes alive like sparkling wine, and her mind abuzz with ever-shifting, dissonant thought.
Her mind was as beautiful as her golden-framed face.
I last saw Anne in 2006 at our 25th reunion. I didn’t realize it would be our last encounter, but I took the time to tell her what her friendship meant to me as a gawky, awkward teen boy who just wanted to be accepted, and how her free spirit helped me realize it was okay to just be myself.
I love you, Anne.
I always have, and I always will.
Rest in peace, my friend.
