Dear Jackie, Joanne contacted me over the weekend to let me know that your dear Mom and our beloved aunty Rita passed away. To be honest my heart is broken. I loved aunty Rita so very much. She was part of all our lives as we grew up. Every day we would come home from school and Mom would be on the phone chatting away, laughing and talking about everything and nothing with her. Every, Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving she would visit and we would go over on the weekends just to spend time. My sisters and I spent many weekend with aunty Rita and Grandma who would take us shopping, to movies and as Grandma use to say "painting the town red". She was our favourite hair dresser who would dream up beer and egg mixes for my sisters' long hair to make them shine and be blonder or redder while I, with my eternal brown pixy cut hair, would be her assistant, handing her papers and smelly concoctions to come up with the perfect perm for my sisters golden locks . She spent hours chatting with us in the kitchen as we prepared holiday meals while the men drank beer and watched hockey or curling on TV. She showed me how to sew on Grandma's old fahioned peddle Singer sewing machine and especially how to be patient and meticulous (believe me she made me start over a skirt 3 times until i got it right :)).She was also there for me personaly after Mom died, she helped me through a very painful and difficult time when I stayed with my Dad after Mom's funeral and both he and I were having a hard time coping. She did all this Jackie while mourning her best friend and sister.She was strong and understanding and helped me be the same. I had long chats with her after my Lowik was diagnosed with autism, it felt like a part of mom never died while I still had your loving Mom to talk to. I am very very sad that she is gone and heart broken that I cannot make it to the funeral. Know how much she meant to all of us and how very much she was loved and will be missed. Love, your cousin Arden