Raise a glass to those we've lost

Last year tonight was the last time I talked to Nancy. For those of you who did not know Nancy, she was not a girlfriend.

She was a gifted intellectual with a mind for money, a heart for words and a weakness for animals. Especially puppies.

We shared a lot in common. She would make me dinners and deliver them, then not leave until I ate them. Wasn't hard. She was a good cook. But even then we knew the end was coming. It was tough making small talk with a granite stone looming.

She was a friend, clear and true.

I would go to her house and refinish her furniture and she would make toys for Lefty.

We used to spend summer nights on my porch drinking beer and smoking stuff. We'd spend summer days catching sun and salt riding Jet Skis and drinking frosty things with ice at Donovan's.

Nancy died a year ago this month from breast cancer. I found out about it in a shocking manner.