HAZEL

All my Lincoln School friends of grade school days would ask me if Hazel was my mom. She was a fourth grade teacher who married a cousin of mine. Some of my friends called her Witch Hazel (imagine that), so I was somewhat embarrassed by that. No fourth grader wants his peers to think he's related to a witch.

We weren't close, but I know she was a sweetheart. Back in the day though, we thought a little differently about our teachers. When we would see them in any other setting, even Chili Suppers at school, it was a little disconcerting. I mean, they had a classroom didn't they? Why did they have to leave it and go out in the community to church and to shop?

Then there seemed to be a time when teachers were more human. Some were even kinda like a friend. There were/are still those who kept you at arm's length. Who were stilted. Who didn't teach students, but instead taught their subjects. There was even a category for them--text-driven.

I won't venture into what teachers seem to be today since I'm not longer a student or a teacher. Anyhow, this entry spawned by the picture of the hazel eyed girl, was to be about that: hazel eyes. (Long time readers know that I'm famous for rabbit trails and following or flowing with them.)

My sister-in-law used to have the brownest of brown eyes. The darkest browns without being black. Then she had cataract surgeries. Voila! Her eyes are now hazel. Actually a lighter hazel than the picture.

I had never heard of that happening before. It's not a temporary thing because it's been three years since the laser slice. That's the way it is, that's the way it goes, and that's what I was going to focus on today. But I didn't.