Today, I lost one of my oldest and closest friends. She also just happened to be my great-aunt, who next Wednesday, would have turned 100.Hazel loved life. No matter what the circumstance, she found something humorous in it. She was always open for a new adventure and rarely said no to anything. She knew all of my flaws and my deepest, darkest secrets, and she loved me anyway.
Until recently, we tried to have lunch together at least once a month (complete with a glass of wine) and we always celebrated our birthdays together, along with her lifelong friends Gary and Jim. On my birthday in 2006 when I was on crutches with a broken ankle and she had medical issues that required a walker, she refused to let those silly little details curtail our annual shopping ritual. We were quite the sight, making our way through the isles of Dillards, crutches and walker knocking things off the racks as we went. We laughed until we had tears in our eyes at our predicament!
I will always remember the day we left our expensive meal at the Capitol Hotel half-eaten to run out the door and jump on the trolley, just to see where it was going.
The pictures above are my favorite pictures of Hazel because they capture her carefree spirit. About eight years ago, Hazel and Gary and Jim came to visit my home at the beach in Florida. One beautiful evening, we decided to take a blanket, some wine and the CD player and head to the water's edge to enjoy the sunset. Being the lady she always was, Hazel hadn't brought anything to wear for a wade in the ocean on a chilly evening, but didn't hesitate for a second to borrow sweat pants and a sweatshirt from my closet. It was a perfect sort of spontaneous evening that comes along far too seldom in our lives........and I will never forget her laughter as the waves splashed over her feet and the wind and sea spray made a mess of her perfectly coiffed hair.
And should I ever be fortunate enough to see a beach sunset again, I will look for Hazel's face in the pinks of the sky and hope to hear that laughter once again as the waves kiss the shore.
Farewell, my beautiful friend.
