Daily Inspiration 8-19-13

"To love

is to recognize yourself

in another."

-- Eckhart Tolle

This is intended to be the final installment of celebrating Nancy. I've covered many topics in how she was special and how she affected others. I began Sunday, August 11th with an announcement and about Nancy as a children's pastor. Then how we met in Hawaii, how she was for the birds, how she loved plants, bushes, and trees. Next was how Hawaii was a theme in our lives. Next was her children, then her family. Yesterday was about her interest in cemeteries. Today comes full circle with my life with Nancy.

Nancy working at Toyota dealership

I was in a songwriting period from 1983 through 1988 (then again from 1998 through 2002), and after meeting Nancy in Hawaii, then going to southern California to stay with her another week, I returned home and wrote several songs about Nancy. Only one was worth recording to me, and it was called Nancy's Eyes. I mentioned this song in a post on January 14th, 2010. Here's the song:

Nancy's Eyes

1st verse:

Nancy's eyes reflect the joy I feel in me.

In Nancy's face, I see all I've come to be.

And in her smile, my love comes back to me

In Nancy, I see me.

Chorus:

In here I see reflections of what's inside of me.

She radiates the qualities that once I couldn't see.

Now I understand, the love she sees in me,

For I reflect the love in here she's choosing to set free.

2nd verse:

In Nancy's voice, I hear the feelings I express.

In Nancy's touch, I feel the warmth of my caress,

And in her laugh, the laughter, I possess.

It's me, that she reflects.

Repeat chorus

The idea of the song was interesting and different for me in that it approached the idea of love as if our love for someone else was a reflection of ourselves, even when we didn't realize we were that way.

Nancy in children's room at church

When Nancy moved up here in June 1987, I owned a little recording studio with two other people. I had this song and the basic tune, but it was one of my partners and also a roommate at the time, Dan who helped me record the song. He played piano and added a little lick to the song that took it to a different level. He put it on tape along with some lead notes and I loved what he did with it.

Nancy at her piano at home

It was just a basic demo type recording, and I sang the song. When it came time to do the vocal, I had Nancy sit in front of me in the studio and I sang and recorded it singing the song to her. I had never done anything like that before.

Nancy and daughter Alisa

The story expands.

When I met Nancy, she had a VW Cabriolet Convertible that she bought used from the car dealership where she worked. She loved that car. After 15 years in the car business for me, I had always taught my salespeople that if they were going to be good at selling new cars, they should own one. I led that by buying quite a few over the years. I was also very loyal to the brands I sold. In this case, it was Chevy, Olds, and Cadillac. So you can imagine with that attitude, what I thought about a foreign car in the driveway. She obviously didn't have the same attitude.

A recent photo of Nancy and her grown children, Guy and Alisa,

along with Charlie, her precious protector.

Her VW also had an engine vibration. It had 50,000 miles on it and I thought up any kind of reason that made any sense to have her let go of it and drive something I represented. Finally, she acquiesced, and I let her choose what car of the ones I sold she would like, and we bought a top of the line Oldsmobile Ciera International in gray metallic. After a week or so, she exclaimed how much she liked the car, and we owned it for a few years.

However, I didn't feel as good about the whole deal as I thought I would. Inside, I always felt that I had taken something away from her that she loved and it always bugged me while owning the Ciera.

So, working in Santa Rosa at a Chevy store, there was a VW store next door and in 1991, I bought, without her knowing about it, a new 1991 VW Cabriolet Convertible, white on white with a white top. But, I had to do more. She was on a trip with her kids in my Cosworth Vega (yes, I owned and loved a 1976 Cosworth Vega). I had a driver bring Nancy's new car home and I parked it in the carport with a big bow on it. Next, at the time I bought the car, I applied for a personalized license plate related to the song, Nancy's Eyes, and it became NANCZ IZ.

And that is how Nancy's Eyes and NANCZ IZ became a theme in our lives. Her email name was NANCZIZ. Later on, she wanted a full-size car to accommodate her parents and we got a Toyota Avalon and transferred the license plates to that car which I still own with 215,000 miles on it. It has been a wonderful machine and still is. It was Nancy's car and she drove it all over creation. We went to Wyoming in it, and I drove her around in it when she could no longer drive.

I guess that I made up for taking the car she loved away way back when. If nothing else, my attitude changed and that undeserved loyalty I was holding on to went away for good. It's people that matter. My wife mattered. Anytime I might have failed her in some way and I knew it, I did whatever I could to make up for it. This is one story of that and how Nancy's Eyes, which caught my attention immediately in Hawaii before I was even introduced to her, became something that was a theme throughout our life together.


"The World Is A Great Mirror. It Reflects Back To You What You Are." -- Thomas Dreier

Spread Some Joy Today--Express your joy and love today. There is no benefit to wait.


Note: For interested parties, Nancy's service is Friday, August 23, 2013, at 2pm at New Hope Christian Fellowship. See more at www.newhopevv.com