On September 20, 2015, a beautiful soul was taken from the world and handed to the heavens. She was an angel walking on earth, and now she has grown her wings and flown to heaven. While I am comforted by knowing you are okay and looking over all of us and loving us still—I still want you to know that we are all going crazy down here on Earth without you.

You were my first love's best friend's girlfriend (did you catch all that?), and we spent almost every day together. They were inseparable, and so we became inseparable as well. The first night that we met, we immediately became friends, and you became my sunshine and happiest friend from that day on. I don't know if I ever told you that.

I'm not sure how I would have ever survived high school without you, and I am so blessed to be able to say I was one of your good friends before you left us entirely too soon. Lord knows I could have never dealt with Dylan and Joe by myself (we could barely handle them, the two of us). I will never forget the countless sleepovers, movie dates, dinner dates and everything dates. Remember when we all passed out on the side of Joe's pool, and we all woke up sunburnt to hell? That was a funny day.

Every time we went anywhere as a group, you were always the one making all the corny jokes and trying to lighten everyone's mood. Sometimes we told you to shut up and that your jokes weren't as funny as you thought they were, but let's be honest—we would all give our left arms to hear one of your dumb jokes again.

You were the first one to start dancing, and the last one to leave the dance floor. Hell, you even ripped your dress at our junior prom (the boys' senior prom), and all you did was put on a t-shirt and shorts and continued dancing at prom even though you were the only one not in a dress anymore. You did not care about a single thing that anybody had to say as long as you were smiling and laughing—which you always were.

I don't think anyone ever told you enough how special and unique you were. I literally cannot think of a single person who was more positive and upbeat than you. It was almost obnoxious how happy you were all the time—how the heck did you manage to be so dang happy always?

You were taken from us way too soon, Maria. I'm not sure how long it will take everyone to recover from your death, as you touched the life of every single person you met. You really may have never known how much we all loved you until now, and that makes me sad, but I'm not worried about it, because I know you are dancing with God up in heaven, spinning around and laughing at all the craziness in the world and looking down on all of us—wanting us to dance on also.

You were beautiful inside and out, Maria. I love you, and I will never forget you.

Keep shining, Maria—the light you showed the world will continue to shine. If only we could all be a little more like you.

Rest in peace, pretty baby; we all love you.

If you want to donate to Maria's family or to disabled children, because that was Maria's life goal, please click the link below:

https://www.gofundme.com/heartsforlily