After spending Christmas in Vancouver, I flew back home to Singapore for a couple of weeks. I was relieved to be in the warm weather again, resting the ankle I had hurt over the holidays, and relaxing with Lou and Abby. I also met up with friends for our first 2015 meal. With a view of Marina Bay Sands, our lunch was so delicious. Then I was back in North America. This time, the United States.
I had a very long flight from Singapore to Tampa. I spent the night before at Shangri-La and after a delicious breakfast overlooking the city, I headed out for my trip. As excited as I was, I was also sad to leave my Lou and Abby at home so soon again. After a short layover in San Francisco then Atlanta, I was finally in Tampa. I was here for almost a week for a Jin Shin Jyutsu workshop.
I signed up for a training in Tampa, a Jin Shin Jyutsu workshop with animals. This was being hosted at On the Ways of Angels Rescue. This NPO was founded by Helen Rich, Wrigley Gum heiress.
Last year, she adopted Lady, the senior Black Lab whose story went viral as a result. After Lady’s owner passed away, no one claimed her and she ended up in a shelter. She was adopted and became part of a family for a year and a half.
The story was that Lady clashed with the small dogs there and so the owner gave Lady to her friend in another town.
Lady escaped and walked 30 miles back to the family. Because neither one claimed her, Lady ended up in a shelter again.
Like many others, including myself, Helen Rich heard about Lady’s story. Helen sent her assistant to fly Lady from Kansas back her Florida home in a private jet. I was happy to have met and worked on Lady at the Jin Shin training.
This trip in the US really just evolved. My mom wanted to accompany me to Florida and we wanted to visit the Tucson Gem Show that started mid-January. Tampa and Tucson were the only confirmed destinations. And of course San Francisco, where I was flying out of.
What I wanted to do was to drive from Tampa to Miami to Key West, with the aim of being in Tucson in a few weeks. The details were filled in as we went along. We also ended up adding New Orleans to our itinerary before heading west. The next few articles are part of this Florida series.