Nanly and Chis

People at work keep asking me what’s wrong. I think I look fine but I’m guessing that the general public really knows better. One person went so far as to say, “You look sad.”

My response is always the same… “Oh, I’m just tired.” Which I am. But it really does go deeper than that.

I can’t focus. I can’t think straight. I can’t get my mind off Nancy. I even wake up at night thinking about her. So, yeah, I'm tired.

I keep remembering things like this…

Nanchita (or Nancite) is what Felice called Nancy. Me… I called her Nanly. And she called me Chis. These names came from typos that were made many years ago. I once ordered some checks from Bank of America and they arrived addressed to Cris Keller. When I returned them and reordered the checks, they then came addressed to Chis Kelley. You now know why I don’t bank at B of A. But from that point on Nancy has called me Chis.

She earned the nickname of Nanly when I was overseas and had to miss one of her dance performances at Cal State Fullerton. Since I couldn’t attend, I sent her a telegram wishing her good luck. It arrived addressed to Nanly Flips.

And speaking of poorly named things… Did you know that Nancy and I once started a corporation? Yep, we were going to become millionaires copying Mrs. Field’s cookie idea, who had not gone nationwide yet and was only located in San Francisco. Nancy and I decided to help Debra Field’s out. We’d save her the trouble of franchising by starting our own cookie business! And we combined our two names and came up with the great name of Kriflips, Inc.

That would be a combo of Kris and Phillips. Aren’t we clever? And wasn’t Nancy nice to put my name first? We truly believed our first million would come from this endeavor.

If it sounds like a couple of seven year olds making lavish plans, think again. We were both 24 at the time.

Maybe one day I will get that cookie business started. I’ve certainly got enough experience eating them...
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