April 2012 (Anne wrote this diary entry on the Thursday after the events in chapter 36 of "By a Simple Twist of Fate")

Dear Diary,

I have two things to tell you about tonight:

First, Mrs. Weisz. I learned today that Rilla's dear friend, neighbor, and adopted "grandmother" died during the night on Tuesday night or early yesterday morning. My poor baby was the one to find Mrs. Weisz in her kitchen chair! She thought Mrs. Weisz was unconscious, so she called 911 and was completely gutted when they arrived and informed her that Mrs. Weisz was gone.

I remember seeing my father in his hospital bed after he died. I was an emotionally overwhelmed teenager so my memories are a bit fragmented, but I distinctly remember thinking "how can he look so much the same, yet so vastly different at the same time?" Mum and Dad had been preparing me for his death since he had been fighting cancer for so long, so I had that foundation to lean on.

Poor Rilla had no forewarning of Mrs. Weisz' death. It ripped the floor right out from under her…and she was all alone yesterday to deal with such a shock! I know she made an attempt to reach Gilbert while waiting for the paramedics, but that was it. She didn't try to reach out to her dad or me or Joy after that. (I'm sure Joy would have dropped everything to go be with Rilla, but Rilla didn't want to bother her.) But, I understand how one's mind works…or doesn't work…at times like that. When processing such overwhelming issues, our brains shut down some of the logical thinking parts to protect the hurting parts. I'm sure Nan could explain this much more eloquently.

Anyway, Ken certainly stepped up to support Rilla in a big way! I must confess that his actions speak volumes to me about his feelings for Rilla!

He apparently literally dropped everything and flew directly to NY last night when he couldn't reach her on the phone. Rilla will probably give me more details, but she just got so choked up when we were on the phone this morning that Ken took over the call for her. (I appreciated that he encouraged her to go in and take a shower to calm down, then he returned back to the phone to talk to me some more.)

What I learned from him was that he was at a factory opening yesterday when Rilla called his office (something she has never done before!) and told his assistant that Mrs. Weisz was "unwell." But then when Rilla didn't answer any of his calls or texts…he headed directly to the airport and flew to NYC! (There are advantages to his status, it seems!) He found Rilla crying in Mrs. Weisz' apartment – upset by her death and devastated that Mrs. Weisz had no living family at all…most died during the horrors of WWII.

I'm sure Rilla and I will talk more about this later…probably tomorrow, I'd guess. But I will give her space until she calls me – especially since Ken is there to help her cope. And I am fully aware that while Rilla will always love and need her mum, Ken is really what she needs right now!

OK. Moving on. The second thing I wanted to tell you about was my recent Skype conversation with Izzie. Now that she is officially five years old, she has decided that she should be allowed to wear makeup! Naturally, as the daughter of two lawyers, she defends her position quite well…

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Author's Note:

What do you think of this chapter? I remember being so gutted when reading of Mrs. Weisz' death. I cannot imagine being the one to discover the body of a dear friend.

And, in my opinion, this event was a turning point in Anne's mother/child relationship with Rilla. As each of Anne's children have matured, they have grown closer to others in their lives and have needed their mum's (and family's) comfort less often. I see Mrs. Weisz' death as the first time that Rilla's primary comfort was someone other than her parents or her siblings…so I tried to have Anne address this milestone.

DW.618