I am grateful to have participated with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2022. The Jazz Fest family showed their gratitude by hosting a volunteers appreciation party at Chickie Wah Wah on Canal Street in New Orleans two weeks after the festival ended.
After receiving my invitation, I text my friend, Diane, to invite her to go with me on Saturday. Diane is a longtime volunteer at Jazz Fest. We worked together on and off for over twenty years. Unfortunately, a kidney stone knocked her out of week two of the festival.
“Hi, you want to ride down to NOLA for the Jazz Fest thank you party?” I text.
“No, I have a wedding rehearsal dinner to attend,” Diane replies.
I tell her I understand and ask my husband, Jerry, to go with me. I only request he lets me do most of the talking at the party. He smiles and agrees. This is a huge sacrifice for him, wink, wink.
We arrive early and we secure a good spot at a table near the stage. A live band plays a variety of music, and we can see all the people as they head to the buffet set up in the back. A tall, thin, kind man asks to join us at our table. His name is Jim Buras. This is his second year to volunteer and fifty years since he first attended the festival.
“Here is a picture of me fifty years ago at the first Jazz Fest. I was twenty years old in this picture. See the resemblance?” Jim says as he holds his cell phone next to his face.
I see it, Jim!” I agree, the same tilt of his head and wearing the same gold medallion as in the picture. Jim goes on to share about his experiences and love for the festival with my husband and myself. We enjoy seeing it through his eyes and we enjoy his enthusiasm.
Jerry and I take the dance floor and do our swing dance we learned years ago in ballroom dance classes. It’s the only dance we remember. I chose the wrong shoes for dancing today but no worries. As we take a break a little lady comes and asks if I mind her dancing with my husband. I gladly share as he is a dancing fool like myself. They two step and glide across the floor. I can see he is happy someone lets him lead and I smile to myself.
As we get ready to head north toward home, I meet Gail Coleman, another volunteer. She works in the accounting department. She is kind and engaging as we bond over our stories about Jazz Festival volunteering. We hug and take a picture of the two of us celebrating life.
Life back in Mississippi is much slower paced and peaceful. I drop by my friend Diane’s house to thank her for inviting me to volunteer and to bring her a t-shirt from the appreciation party. We talk about our tomatoes and squash and Jazz Fest before I head to my farm a few miles away. As I pull down my winding driveway I think about the wonderful music, food, and people I met. I will never forget this experience!
May you never lose hope, and may you find peace wherever you go.
Jacqueline White-Ivey
Please order a copy of my book, Treatment in America: Her Life Matters. It's a story about a mother's struggle to acquire mental health treatment for her daughter after her new born baby was diagnosed terminal with Zellweger Disorder.
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