Jazz and Ina
We all have those things, places or people that go together like graham crackers and milk, the colors of autumn and anything pumpkin, or movies and popcorn… it’s hard to have one without the other. Well… one of mine is Jazz and Ina. I cannot, even for a minute, think of one without the other no matter how hard I try.
Today, because of a text with someone, I got to thinking about Ina. I’ve only interacted with her for such a short bit of actual physical time spent together and subsequently short increments after our initial meeting just over ten years ago, yet she has spurred me on SO much! She’s been in my life not so much geographically, but oddly joined with my soul.
We met because of Jazz… We met because of yet another move. We met because I reluctantly offered up a life that otherwise would be deprived in a 4th floor apartment. We met because of Jazz… We met because of his spunk, and Ina’s openness. We met because of a random mutual acquaintance. We met because of Jazz…
Our actual time together in the same place was overall less than a dozen hours, yet the knowingness of her questions and the depth of her listening in those several different interactions left me with a new residing appreciation and mystical understanding upon which I still find myself reflecting.
As I remember the story, we needed a therapy dog. We were struggling because of the move to California from Thailand, being in our “home country” again yet still feeling like foreigners, and the absence of our dog “Daisy” that we chose to leave behind because we knew LA would not be kind to her. Daisy had too much of the Thai street and neighborhood gossip in her to trust her not to run for good once we landed in Santa Monica, California.
In mid November of 2010, we found Jazz through a rescue shelter online. His 10 week old floppy ears, quick inquisitive eyes, and personable temperament was just what we needed. I became the constant in his life after we adopted him while the rest of the family came and went with school or work. He and I grew very close, but he loved it when the boys came home for a romp in the backyard. After about two months of adjusting to a puppy in the house and surrendering big pieces of my heart to him, I found myself nursing him back to health from a life-threatening case of mange he had acquired at the rescue shelter. This dependency and struggle for life intensified our bond.
Unfortunately and unprepared, we were at the whim and pleasure of the rental market in West LA. In June of 2011, our landlady raised our already gouging and overpriced rent at the 1 year mark to something we could not afford. We hesitantly found a 4th floor apartment, and I was unwilling to subject or confine Jazz to this space with his developing size and my impending absence due to a new job.
Through the grapevine, Ina had been shown a photo of Jazz, and she acquired my name and number. Late one night, around 10:00pm, between our moving trips to the apartment, she called requesting to meet Jazz. She told me how she had, 4-5 months prior, lost the dog she had when her husband was still living. At that time, she had said no more dogs; they had always had a brindle back boxer. She didn’t think her heart was in it until this mutual acquaintance showed her Jazz’s photo and told her his story. She had put off calling me for several hours, but uncharacteristically found herself not able to sleep until she reached out to just hear my voice. I told her I could bring Jazz over the next day for a first date to see how things went. It was a necessary pain I knew I had to endure for this creature who had wriggled his way into my heart.
The way I see it, Jazz brought Ina into my life. Perhaps I should call him the “Introducer”. Ina, this energetic, intentional, forthright, pragmatic, feisty, unnerving, 81 year old woman, had founded and still directed a local nursery school since 1977; she amazed me! And she saw into my soul in a way very few people had ever done, or at least that’s what it felt like to me.
We have corresponded through the years even since we left California 8 years ago. She keeps me informed on the very contented life of Jazz with his doggy door in which he has control over his comings and goings. She writes of the mutual admiration between Jazz and the kids at the nursery school. She shares stories of how he keeps her company at home and on her adventures with family and how he watches after her in ways she never dreamed of. I ponder and treasure the few interactions that I had with her in person, the letters we have exchanged through the years, and the heartfelt conversations we had that opened me up to seeing life just a little differently, and incrementally and incredibly a little more deeply.
Happy 11th birthday, Jazz!
L’chaim, Ina!
I love you both!!!
