Hard Day

Today started out like any other this week. Get up, get ready, get the boys up and ready and out the door to dayhome. Except instead of going to work, I came back home and cleaned closets and did laundry for the morning. I know, exciting. My heart was only half in it though. My mind was in my childhood, reliving memories of Hazel. My Great-Aunt Hazel passed away last week. She was 83. She is my grandpa's younger sister. She was our family reunion organizer forever! And I think that's where most of my memories of her come from.

We used to camp out at Willow Creek campground. There was a park and a little beach, but my cousins and I spent most of the day in the creek by our trailers "fishing" for minows. Aunty Hazel was always good for sneaking us a pop or more bread crusts for bait. She was willing to look in our buckets at ALL the "fish" we caught and be amazed. There was always laughter coming from the camp kitchen where she, Uncle Stan and the rest of the crew hung out. And the candy toss on the last day, forget about it! She'd stand there and hoot at us kids all scrambling for the peanuts and suckers. Such great memories. I actually remember being a little afraid of her, she was just larger than life and I was well, not.

Her funeral was today. Got to see a lot of the old familiar faces; some faces have changed so much, some hardly at all. Aunty Hazel was always bigger than Uncle Stan, but today he seemed extra small without her there. They would've been married for 65 years at the end of the month. That's a lot of years of togetherness. So many great memories and secrets. I always wanted to ask her about growing up with the 5 brothers and 2 sisters that she had. I still have questions about Auntie Mary that now will never have answers. And that's okay I suppose. In the service today we were treated to some singing and piano by her ever talented granddaughters and daughter-in-law, Lori. Lori, I think, got to spend quite a bit of time with Aunty Hazel, trying to comfort her through the pain with songs. It was mentioned in the service today that even though she wasn't talking much in the last few days that she would sing to herself long after Lori had left. Aunty Hazel was so proud of her talented family.

I'm so proud of the women in my family. Tough as nails, a little spicy in the attitude department (but don't you dare spice their food!) and dedicated to their families. It's hard to lose another matriarch, but I'm so lucky to have been blessed with as many strong women as I have as role models. And my family is so lucky that they worked so hard to keep us all together.