Just over two years ago Beth, my mom, my sister, and I were in the process of planning our trip to France to visit my Aunt Kathy. Aunt Kathy had moved to the wine region of Saint-Émilion just outside of Bordeaux over 10 years ago. We were all excited to see her. Sadly just a couple of months before our trip Aunt Kathy tragically passed away very unexpectedly in March 2018.

This was very devastating as we were all extremely excited to see her and my mom lost her beloved sister. Aunt Kathy lived life to the beat of her own drum and was one of the most caring and loving people around. When she first moved to Europe our family would play where in the world is Aunt Kathy as she hadn’t quite picked a spot. She would send my mom and our extended family random emails or just pictures from wherever she was. One of the emails I remember, talked about how great the weather was and about flocks of flamingos. Our whole family would try to guess where she was in Europe. Eventually her travels through Europe landed her in Saint-Émilion permanently where she purchased an old vineyard with her husband. Once she settled in at her vineyard, Chateau Plaisance, many family members visited her throughout the years.

As for our journey we decided to keep our travels to France for that summer to honor Aunt Kathy. Her husband was more than welcoming and encouraged us to continue our trip. We spent the first couple of days in Paris before taking a high speed train to Libourne where Aunt Kathy’s husband picked us up. It was truly wonderful experience getting the local European culture, learning about how the chateau functions, and reminiscing about Aunt Kathy. We were able to visit many of Aunt Kathy’s favorite spots which were very emotional but great experiences.