Virginie, Lilia & Haïku
Ph. Jonathan Llense
Story Clara Bouteille
A unique relationship unites Virginie, Lilia and Haïku, the house cat. Mother and daughter share the story of the special connections Haïku has made with each member of the family.
A connection
(Lilia) "My name is Lilia, Haïku is my first cat. I remember the day he arrived, I came home from school with a friend and I saw him running around in the living room."
(Virginie) "I am Virginie, Lilia's mother, I have been designing for Hermès for 18 years now, I do a lot of carrés and other projects with them. I am starting to develop my own personal, visual and artistic work on various media. We both live with my husband and Haïku the cat. Haïku has established his own way of communication with everyone. There are moments when he is a goofball, and moments when he is cuddly; there is a time in the evening when Haïku goes to lie on my husband’s lap because he goes to bed later. I wake up quite early in the morning. And then during the day, it’s Lilia’s time: he stays hours and hours in her room.”
A companion
(Virginie) "Our companion is called Haïku, like the little Japanese poems. He has been with us for more than 7 years. We went to get him from a specific breeder of Chartreux.
I remember when my husband and I went to pick him up. The breeder was great, she works more out of passion than financial reasons. We stayed for a long time. She showed us how she socialized her cats, putting them on her back, on her lap and taking their paws to teach them to surrender and trust humans. I think Haïku learned a lot from there. I remember the first day at home with Haïku, I laid down on the bed in my room and let him wander around to discover and get comfortable, he moved from right to left. It was a very powerful moment, making myself present and available to reassure him but not doing anything. Often, he comes to seek direct contact with us. By putting his paw, or his head on us. He has this constant need for connection."
A life...
(Lilia) “I like his small habits. When I'm alone in my room, I sit on the bed with my phone or my computer. Usually, if the door is open, Haïku jumps on my bed, nudges my phone or sits in front of it to demand all the attention.”
(Virginie) "One day, when he was still quite young, we took him to our country house. He climbed up a tree, on top of a poplar tree, 6m high... The whole family arrived, my husband took the ladder and a bag to carry him in. He managed to get him out, as best he could. I picked him up when he came down, I can still feel the sensation of him clutching my shoulder, as if he was embedded in my skin.
We are lucky to have a flat with gardens around. So Haïku has his own little territory, he goes outside. In the building there is a shrink, and recently we heard from the caretaker that Haïku regularly goes to the shrink during a session, sitting next to the patient."
