For The Love of Jack

One week after he bashed my head into a wall, he took me up to his sponser's house in Bonny Doon and bought a wiener dog that he tucked in his motorcycle jacket for the ride down the long and windy Felton Empire Grade Road.

I did not see Jack 24-7 during the first four months he joined us as I was technically living at Lazy Woods just down the alley to honor the restraining order the police had put on him the night of the arrest.  But once I was "forced" to move back in the new year, Jack became the love of my life ~ and my protector for at least the next year.

When he would yell at me, Jack would run and jump up by my side on the couch ready to protect me from anything he possibly could.  He spooned right next to me ~feeling my pain ~ as vulgar words were spoken ~ and threats were made ~ he offered silent support and all the unconditional love and devotion that dogs instinctively know how to give.

Jack was my world ~ my saving grace ~ along with my own Lil' Red ~ who followed my saga of life in the Santa Cruz Mountains ~ so isolated from family and friends.

A year later, Jack was joined by two new friends ~ his lady love Jill, another wiener dog puppy, and Lil' Dickens, a buff kitten, from the home of his sponsor.

Unfortunately, the abuse had gone beyond the verbal ~ the mental ~ the emotional ~ and Jack would see me get hit at the second home up north.  This time, Jack was too afraid to stay by my side and instead ran to hide under the covers in his master's bedroom ~ to block out the sight and the sound of his master hurting the lady he once tried to protect.

I told myself I had to leave ~ that if I could not figure out a way to leave for myself ~ that I had to leave for the animals' sake ~ that there was no way they could continue to watch this kind of abuse ~ that I had to leave to protect them ~but knowing in my heart that this man was capable of doing the same thing to another woman.

Jack loved his master ~ and really the only tenderness I saw in this man was the love he showed for his dogs ~ he adored them and took them everywhere ~

Years later, I still think of my Precious Jack ~ and His Love Match Jill ~ and remember two precious souls who filled my heart with such joy during the darkest days of my life ~ and ultimately led me to rescuing Ceci, a senior wiener dog, two years after my contact with them ended.

Jack taught me that an animal can feel your pain ~ and can want so desperately to try to help ~ but even their little souls can get so scared that the flight response will eventually kick in ~ so that they can protect themselves from a fear even beyond what I may have been feeling at the time.

But I am grateful to him for all the years of devotion he gave to me ~ and the happiness he sprinked throughout my crumbled up world ~

And I thank God ~

Each Day ~

All For The Love of Jack ~