Nance and Nancy

For years that's what it was.....Nance and Nancy. You never saw one without the other. Like two peas in a pod -- like N&N's instead of M&M's, we were together all the time.

I met Nance when I was working for Xerox in Lake Success, New York. She was a secretary for the Branch Service Manager while I was a secretary for the Branch Sales Manager. Between the two of us, we ran the entire office. We were pretty much the same age (I think she's younger by about two years), both had blonde hair and light eyes and both of us had married our childhood sweethearts. We became close when we were divorcing those same childhood sweethearts. So needless to say, we've been through a lot together.

We were also working at a time when there weren't too many women in sales. Working for a progressive company such as Xerox, they were looking to add more women to their sales force. Enter Nance and Nancy....we were both promoted from secretarial positions into the world of sales. Our lives changed from that moment on and we now had even more in common. Being in sales for Xerox meant going away to their facility in Leesburg, Virginia for weeks on end for training. And the best part was that I got to do this with my best friend, Nance. So picture this....about 500 men and ten women in training in Leesburg. Instead of it being like work, we looked upon it as a vacation. Boy did we love to go there. I have so many memories of time spent with Nance and many of them occurred in Virginia. Here's a picture of us during one of our Xerox training sessions in Leesburg. I think this must have been the "How To Close A Quick Sale" course.

After our divorces, we were both single for about five years and spent those five years doing basically everything together....working, summers in the Hamptons, spending time at each other's apartments and driving around in our "hot" cars. She had a Datsun 280Z and I had a Firethorn Red Camaro. I remember going to the Hamptons for the weekend and staying out so late into the early morning hours of Monday and then just driving straight to work. Life was definitely good!!!

Nance and I both remarried at about the same time and she moved to Virginia and I moved to Pennsylvania. This picture was during my shower where they gave me coffee mugs with both our names on them. I've only seen her about a dozen times since then but she will always remain one of my best friends. We just know that we love each other.

Nance married her best friend Greg who is a pilot for a national airline. Consequently, they're able to fly around a lot. I remember her telling me once that they made a quest to play golf in every state in the United States. When I was visiting her a few years back, she had a shelf on the wall with fifty golf balls with each one representing a different state....they had achieved their quest.

Like myself, Nance and Greg are great animal lovers. After their two beautiful dogs, Thurmond and Yogi died, they rescued another beauty, Jeb. Jeb is still alive and well and appears on every one of their Christmas cards.

Another quest of Nance's was being a good Christian and this is where she has also been successful. She volunteers a lot of her time in helping younger teens in their quest as well. I admire her for this. I know she wishes I was more like her in this respect but she's happy enough that I'm still a believer in my religion.

Before there were ever acronyms like BFF, Nance and I had our own acronym for our relationship. It was WAF and we signed everything we sent to each other that way. Here's the proof which was included on one of the last gifts she sent me. I kept it because it reminds me of the BFF friendship we had before anyone even knew what that meant. Afterall, we were WAF. So to my beautiful and caring friend Nance, I wish you a very happy birthday. I'd give anything for just one more ride in that Datsun. From Pennsylvania to Virginia, let the shouts be heard that today's your day. I miss you and hope to see you again very soon. Love, W.A.F