Mariana is my eight-and-a-half-year-old little angel who may be as misunderstood as how her name is pronounced. Her name is not Mary-anne-a but instead Mari‑ē‑awe‑na. For short, everyone calls her Mari. She may have a shortened nickname, but she is anything but short on personality.

She can walk into a room and bring life to a stagnant crowd. The energy she exudes brings those around her back to a child like state. I often say, “If we could bottle up all her energy we might be able to light up an entire city.”

The first thing people notice is her eyes. She has engagingly wide-open Caribbean blue eyes. Just like the Caribbean’s vibrant blue clear waters where one can see to the bottom, when looking into Mari’s eyes it’s as if you could see to the bottom of her animated, carefree soul. She has deep, dark, golden blond hair with a touch of sun-kissed red hues throughout coming barely above her slender shoulders. She has the face of an angel whose halo gleams brightly. Her Snow White skin always feels so silky smooth to the touch. She has the waist of a model that has to have a belt to hold up her pants.

Mari has severe autism and due to this, she has many idiosyncrasies. First, she has an oral fixation where she constantly needs to chew on something or put something in her mouth. For example, her hands are like popsicles as she constantly licks them.

She also seems to live in her own little world where she can escape any time she chooses to. Her world must contain nothing but happiness as there’s hardly a moment without a vibrant, vivacious smile implanted upon her angelic face. She can start laughing at a moment’s notice with what seems like nothing to those around her. However, she can reel everyone into laughing with her. Her infectious laughter is like a football player when he scores the winning touchdown and the stadium can’t help but erupt into elated cheers along with the player.

She has the deductive reasoning skills of an adult three times her age. However, her lack of safety awareness is the most disturbing and frightening of all. Her little determined, strong-willed mind always finds a way to get onto the second floor, flat roof so she can do her laughing, dancing and singing back in her own little world, Mari’s world.

When she talks she has a sweet sounding voice like that of a heavenly angel. However, when she is either excited or not getting her way, she can let out these ear-piercing squeals at the top of her lungs. When she draws or writes she goes, “Aweeeeeeeee” in a long, drawn out way. Whenever she becomes excited her arms start to flap like she is ready for takeoff and sore like an eagle around the room.

All of this is of an angel who left this earth prematurely for heaven back on July 16, 2008. One can only imagine that she is now in heaven finally able to fly with her arms as her wings while she exudes the personality of a saintly angel with all the love she can give to those around her.

(I am in a class to help me to become a better writer and my first assignment was to describe someone I knew. At first I was going to describe Keith and then decided who do I think about all the time, well Mari of course. I hope all of you like what I wrote. I hope that those of you who knew her and relate to what I wrote and to those of you who never were able to meet her I hope this helps you to get to know her a little bit better.)