When someone does a job they enjoy for 25 years, you are bound to make some friends. But on this past Tuesday (July 31) I didn't realize how many.
Nancy Kelly, who is the strongest force in making the Fashionable Fillies luncheon a success each year, made it a very special day for me, as well.
Nancy is the executive director of The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, a charitable trust that provides, on a confidential basis, financial relief and assistance to individuals who are the backbones of the thoroughbred racing industry - grooms, hot walkers, night watchmen, jockeys and exercise riders, for example.
When she called me a couple of months ago to tell me they wanted to honor me at this year's luncheon, I was stunned. "You've done so much for us over the years getting our message out," she said. Of course, I accepted.
After all being a society columnist for The Saratogian had its perks and I certainly don't mean financial ones. The rewards were even better. Over the course of those many years of writing Inside Saratoga I made many close friends. My goals when I started writing it were to make people happy and to help organizations get their messages out in positive ways.
I must add that I am not a negative person, so it came easier for me to reach my goals, as well.
 I can not express in words how I felt Tuesday when the crowd of 150 or so ladies stood and applauded me after I had been given a magnicent bouquet of red roses from the co-chairwoman of the event, Maureen Lewi. She is also a friend - along with her husband, Ed - that I would most likely never had had the pleasure of being able to call them friends. The list goes on. Ed's nickname for me is Bare Facts. I'll tell you how that came about some day.
I am sure the women (the Toga Tattlers), who took over my position after I retired in late November of 2011, will feel the same way some day.
Thank you everyone who ever read my column. I will never forget those wonderful years and the people who made it a better and different life for me.