Nancy aka Bogie the Clown

I lost a friend this week. Nancy was one of my water walking students who joined my deep water class in 1991. We bicycled around the deep end of the pool, exercising mainly our mouths more than we did other parts of our body.

Back then, Nancy still worked, and she told great stories of her workday that usually started off with, "Ooh, I'm so mad!" and by the time she was finished, we were either plotting revenge or laughing so hard we'd get water up our noses. Nancy had an infectious laugh and a cheerful attitude toward life no matter how irritated she got with her job or her husband's antics.

Nancy was a golfer and one of the first of my pool people who took my mother under her wing when she visited Florida. She spent her vacation days traveling with girlfriends and family, and she always returned to class with great stories and even better pictures. But, Nancy's greatest joy besides her kids, her sister, her grandkids, and her dogs was her alter ego Bogie the Clown.

Nancy went to clown school, created Bogie, and was a part of a group of clowns that visited our local hospitals to uplift patients' spirits. She told terrible jokes, performed silly clown rituals, and laughed more at herself and her antics than anyone else.  My mother saw Bogie last when Bogie visited my mother in her hospital room.

She was there for me during my engagement, my wedding, and the birth of my daughters. I still have the toilet paper sash she made me with the written poem when I finally ended my teaching duties and left the pool to stay at home with my girls.

Nancy and I got together for lunch every other week or so at a Greek restaurant not far from where she lived. Eventually, the restaurant closed, and our communication dwindled to phone calls, Facebook posts, and the yearly Christmas card. We always talked about getting together, but neither one of us made sure we did.

As always, after someone dies, that is my biggest regret.

I'm so grateful to have had Nancy as my friend. She was one of a kind, as was Bogie, and they both will be missed.