Liberty Candelaria Tribute

I only got to be around you for a short period of time, but Liberty you made a very large impact on me, so much that I still think about you from time to time like right now. I wish I could've said goodbye, wish I could've told you, that I thought you were an amazing and wonderful person. I know that you no longer have pain or heartache just joy and happiness. I am thankful for you.

D.M.

My memories with my friend could go on for pages. We met in high school choir and began writing each other silly notes filled with high school drama and future dreams and wishes. Before I knew it we can become good friends and she invited me to her family birthday party and we drove around her grandmother's complex parking lot because she had just gotten her permit and couldn't drive on real streets without an adult...but believe me, she made sure she got to drive party decorations from her grandmother's house to the clubhouse any chance she got. From then on we just hit it off and became best friends in high school. We laughed, cried, hugged, dreamed, day-dreamed, planned, schemed with each other and I am absolutely sure I wouldn't have made it through those awkward years in my life without her. I spent nearly every day at her house in those years...we even walked in the snow when it was up to our hips due to the huge snow storm to meet with each other to celebrate that school had been canceled. And the boys, OH THE BOYS! Liberty and I spent countless hours over boys at our high school. We were always trying to work on each other's behalf...trying endlessly to make a match that was sure to sweep us off our feet (thinking back I see how niave we were...a subject we often had laughs over later in life). I was her "knight in shining addidases" and she was my sunshine bear. Oh how I miss those days! I never knew they would slip by so quickly and I would be wishing that I had written down every last silly thing we had done together.

As the years went on, we went to different colleges but always kept in touch. Our relationship had changed and so had our personalities. At times it was rough trying to feel each other out after being apart for so long (we weren't able to finish each other's sentences or read each other's thoughts so well). But our core selves remained the same and we still found ways to connect in laughs, cries, and hugs all over again. Liberty Lynn Candelaria knew how to speak to my soul and at times when I had given up on life and "wanted my money back" (as we always said), she was there with a "cheer up, Charlie" and a "well, the good news is...".

Liberty, I miss you terribly and tears are welling up in my eyes this very moment at the thought that it may be years and years until we are reunited. I'm not sure that I will ever find a friend so kindred, so caring, and so genuine. You are ALWAYS in my heart, dearest friend...always!