I once had the honor of befriending a young woman who was as brave as a singer with no stage and as determined as a newly born bird hatching in the shade under the burning sun.Her uniqueness was never determined by her differences, but by the shape of her heart that never stopped beating for the thrill of the unknown.

She was quite a dreamer, but never let her dreams linger too long.

She would climb a mountain before anyone knew its existence and stubbornly plot to live long enough to tell her story -the way it was supposed to be told.

She made the best of what she was dealt, stuck to her guns and never let anyone bring her down.

Sometimes, when she was alone, she would smother in self doubt. Convince herself she was less than whole.

Yet she was as strong and fierce as a Spaniard bull; fighting for what she knew she was destined to become.

She told herself, “never give up,” while brilliantly hiding the fact that those three words existed in her vocabulary.

She would never notice her ability to be seen as someone with more wisdom than the person sitting beside her and never ceased to let a silly moment pass without a halfway hidden smile.

She overcame adversity, hardships -by breaking barriers, simply to wholeheartedly show others the way it was done.

She never took crap from anyone but never broke the rules -until she was completely sure it was her time to show the world what she was made of.

She was smart and lovable, giving and true.

She was also impatient and sassy, a wild fire, no one could tame.

Only a few were blessed to be warmed by her presence, taken hostage by her sense of freedom and awed by her ability to create rhythm to any beat of the drum

she worked the hardest of the hard, making it look easier than it was ever supposed to look.