Last week I lost two friends within 5 days of each other. They were from two different parts of my life and didn’t know each other but they were very much alike.

Friday August 2 a very special lady went to join her husband in heaven. Her name was Nancy and we’d been friends for almost 40 years. We met when she was hired by the bank where I was a trainer. She and four others were hired to be branch managers and I trained them for a couple weeks in our teller systems.

In 1985 I moved back into our branch system as a floating manager, and I worked in Nancy’s branch for several months, driving more than an hour each way every day. We became good friends when she invited me to stay with her, in her lakeside home, to ease my commute. She was gentle, sweet, empathetic and had a huge heart. She was always smiling, and had the best giggle. She was everybody’s mom.

And, 35 years ago, she and her husband, Bob, introduced me to my now husband.

When Bob and Nancy retired they moved to Arizona and, sadly, Bob died from pancreatic cancer shortly after. But Nancy and we have stayed friends, calling once in awhile, visiting when we could, annual holiday cards. During my last call to her she told me she was thinking about moving into an assisted living facility, and as she described it I told her it sounded nice. Then a few days later she accidently called my husband, and during their conversation told him the same thing.

She moved into her new apartment a few months ago, but suffered a fall and was in the hospital when her heart failed. Her son called me with the news.

I think, now, about our last visit with her back in February of 2020. We stayed with her a single night, and then traveled around the state, visiting beautiful places. But I got sick on that trip and we didn’t want to infect her so we called her and told her we wouldn’t be coming back to the house, instead we’d find a hotel near the airport for our last night in Arizona. We told her we’d be back out to visit her.

And then….covid. We never got back out to Arizona to see her again, and that makes me really sad, but we will keep her in our hearts forever. She loved and grieved for her husband so much for the many years that she survived him that we’re thankful she is with him again. That must have been some reunion.

But man, I’m going to miss her giggle.

I’ll tell you about the other special person I lost in the next post. They each deserve their own space. And the combined grief is just too much.