It’s Monday in France. We are down to 5 days before we head home. Time has been fast and slow at the same time.

Sleep did not come again last night. This time then can be slow. I try to rest and enjoy the darkness. The little things would creep into my mind. Then they get bigger and bigger, all clamouring for attention and to be acknowledged. I wonder if they really understand what they ask.

We all seek for ‘truth’ and ‘understanding’ like Anne Lamott says. And it is as easy and fun as shampooing a cat! I’ve been scratched many times before. I have the scratch marks.

You seek your truth. I seek mine. Do we listen to each other or do we hear only the cries of our own hurt and how we’ve been done wrong by the other? Walk in my shoes! We demand of each other.

I try not to play the game but sometimes my back is against the wall. I know that I cannot make another behave in the manner that pleases me. I do not have that much power. I do not want to lose respect for myself by just pleasing another.

I walk the only road open to me. The road that is governed by Don Miguel Ruis’ Four Agreements. 1. Be impeccable with your words. 2. Take nothing personally. 3. Make no assumptions. 4. Always do your best.

That is pretty well how I was raised by my mother, too. I try my best always to do the correct thing. I’m talking about manners and etiquette. I do believe they will carry you far in life, no matter where in the world you are.

Is it silly of me to be talking about this when I am right in the middle of Champaign area in France? Why am I tap, tapping about this as if to save my life? Well, things don’t let go of me just because I’ve left the country. Voices cry and would not be denied.

So here i sit like Lewis Carroll, tapping out my nonsense, my babbling tale from a French Wonderland. It is important to have words and to have a voice. It is not only important to listen but to hear what is being said .