Until We Meet Again

On Christmas Day, Hazel Porter went to Heaven for the ultimate Christmas celebration!  What a time to leave this earth!  I'm sure she made it just as the festivites were getting started.  She probably greeted everyone as an old friend, even if she hadn't met them here on earth.

Hazel was born September 27, 1922.  She was the thirteenth child of David and Sally Floyd.  She was the last one of those kiddos to leave this earth, and of all of them, she was here the longest.  She had a wonderful life, and I think even if it hadn't been, she still would have thought it was, and she would've lived as if it was.  But, it really was.  She loved all her brothers and sisters, and they doted on her.  Every year at the Floyd reunion, her neices and nephews, great nieces and nephews, in-laws and her immediate family gathered to her side to celebrate just being family.  The stories told, memories shared, photos of the past and ones taken to record the present all celebrated the love between these people.  Hazel was the tie that binds.  She was the last of that generation.  She was loved and respected and admired by all her family. 

She had certainly gained success in this world.  She was a teacher and principal.  I think she lacked one credit of having her doctorate in education.  In her obit, I know her achievments were listed.  She had been on educational committes and boards that I cannot remember the names of.  She was also instrumental in the DARE program that is now in schools.  As it was said at her funeral, "she was ahead of her time.  She advanced through the education program when it was a man's world."  And that she did.  She was widowed when her daughter was eight, so that would probably put her in her mid-thirties.  She stepped up to provide for her daughter and be both parents.

Of all the things that Hazel accomplished here on this earth, the most important was that she let her light shine.  If you knew Hazel, you knew she was a lover and follower of Jesus Christ.  You knew that she was a lady.  You could see the evidence in her daughter that she was a wonderful mother.  Her son-in-law even says she was the perfect mother-in-law.  I know she was a cherished aunt.

I didn't have the pleasure of knowing Hazel all that long, but I truly loved her.  She was a spitfire.  She had brass, but her kindness never made her seem harsh.  She was a lovely person, and I am thankful that I had the pleasure of knowing her.  I am thankful that when I refer to her, I can proudly say, "Aunt Hazel."  She will be missed.