My sweet friend Maren, the girl who ignored what life expected her to be, and lived simply, beautifully, as she was.  The girl who was as perfect as she was flawed, and as beautiful as she was tortured.  Maren could accept anyone as they were, take everyone as they came, and without judgment enjoy all that they had to offer.  Maren was the girl, whose voice could consume every inch of a room, spilling into every single molecule until it engulfed everything in its wake, everything in her space.  And with her song she could expose the most fundamental root of her heart’s happiness, and convey the darkest hollows of her heart’s sadness.  Regardless of what the emotion was, when she sang, you felt it.  As Maren’s friend for the past 13 years she offered me love, laughter, tears, support, understanding, adventure, unyielding loyalty and in the cruel hours of my insomnia, she offered me comfort in the form of music.  I did not realize that I took Maren for granted until she passed.  I always assumed that, in this lifetime, her friendship was something I would never have to live without.  I will miss you my sweet friend, every single day.