My husband, Jeffrey, and I just came back from the vacation in France.  This was a very special trip that my mother in Japan, Jeffrey, and I had talked about and dreamed about for about five years.  It became our reality finally!  We had spent about two weeks in a various towns and villages in the South and the Central part of France.  Aside from crazy drivers and automobiles in Paris, we enjoyed the countryside driving – total distance of 1,500 miles.  Along this road trip, I made a few furry friends who could speak the universal language – being kind and loving to each other.

On the day third of our trip, we left a beautiful old historic town of Saint Emilion (Northeast of Bordeaux), and we were driving through rolling hills of vineyards all around us.  We’ve bought sandwiches and pastries for lunch in the local bakery, so we stopped at a side street where there were big trees – perfect for a picnic!  Soon after we sat down, I located a cat in the distance (I became very good at this on this trip).  This cat walked straight toward us!  We decided to call her Gigi (named after our B&B’s owner’s cat in St. Emilion).  She obviously welcomed us in her territory!  She was so friendly and loving.  I gave her a piece of chicken, but she was not interested in food at all.  She hung out with us in our entire lunch break, and went back where she came from when we left.  Watch the video of Gigi HERE.

The other two cats I made friends with were mom and a son (I think…, but not sure).  They live in a small town called, Carsac-Aillac.  They were in our hotel courtyard sunbathing when we arrived.  The younger male cat, Pierre (Jeffrey named him) was curious about us from the second he saw us.  He came right up to us and showed his straight-up excited tail.  The other cat, “Pierre’s Mom” wasn’t there first, but she emerged at some point out of nowhere.  She was calm, quiet, very sweet, and content.  To be honest, I was very tired by that day (day sixth of the trip) being a translator between Jeffrey and my mother all the time, and not being able to be “alone” with my thoughts and activities.  After a brisk 40 min. walk with Jeffrey just outside our hotel, I went back to the courtyard to spend time with Pierre and Pierre’s Mom.  That was exactly what I needed.  The cats gave me the space I needed, gave me healing and calming energy without soliciting, gave me a several chuckles with their fun spirits.  I was totally refreshed after being with them for 30 min. (or actually, I don’t remember how long I enjoyed their company.  It could have been an hour!).

The biggest challenge in our trip was not being able know exactly what we ordered at the restaurants!  Our French wasn’t sufficient enough.  I should have put more effort into my on-line language study before the trip…  Oh well…  That being said, I enjoyed the spontaneity in our trip and language barriers.  It reminded me of when I came to the U.S. about twenty years ago.  The greatest thing of all was that not only we truly enjoyed the entire trip, but also that I found the cats in France can speak our universal language – being kind existences and loving to all.