Today marks a year that my aunt has be gone. Cancer you take some good people and my aunt was one of them. Some people asked for my speech at the funeral so here it is.. sorry for typos.

I Ialways wanted to be like my Aunt Donna. One of my very first memories with Don was getting to be her roommate on Princess cruises. My mom-mom was treating me, my mom and her to a Mexican cruise. I remember thinking while she was unpacking her clothes man I want to be just like he ... r when I grow up. Tall, beautiful and blonde. So what did I do? I entered the lip-synching competition as Madonna and did Holiday. So Donna came up with the brilliant idea that she would dress me. She took her tube top with black sparkles and turned it into a mini skirt. Grabbed one of her amazing beach wraps and made me a top and I've no idea where we got the blond wig. Then she made me a glove out of panty hose and then she put me in her 6 inch black stilletto heels. Well I was tall, blonde and beautiful and I remember thinking oh, yeah I want to be her. As as I got older and realized I wasn't going to be tall or blonde but did continue to be influenced by her fashion. I remember how excited I was to wear her Giorgio Armani gold dress with the cut outs on the sides to Prom. And yeah I didn't have the height and I wasn't blonde but I had her dress. And all these years I always loved her fashion. I mean Donna didn't just wear jewelry she made jewelry. she was a fashionista before people even knew what that was. She was an artist, a true artist she would take me to the museums. She taught me all about great art and again I remember thinking I want to be like her, a painter, so she taught me to paint. I learned how to use pastels, oils and charcoal. How to mix the colors and use each and every brush. Each one was very specific to what they would do and she made sure I knew that. That was my aunt she had an eye for that for detail she could paint like the masters Rembrandt, Van-Gogh and Matisse. Still to this day I've never seen anybody paint the way she could. I will never forget the first time I spent with Donna and Glenn. First they ordered Texas Tommy's and root beer, then we went to the movies and she ordered popcorn and Twizzlers, and I said to my uncle, "can she and I be best friends? ". And everyone knew her as a yoga teacher and healer. So again I was like I want to do that too, so I did. She got me into yoga and spirituality about nine years ago and then when my dad passed away she taught me to breathe. How to connect to myself and ask those hard questions to get to what you really want. So when I think of my Aunt I want to think of her wearing that Gold Giorgio Armani dress, painting a beautiful sunset, sitting in lotus pose, eating a Texas Tommy, with a side of Johnny's Popcorn and laughing. pastel prom dresses