Mrs. Piera

Mrs. Piera came into my life by chance, like a flower that sprouts in your garden to make the space around you kinder. When I first met her, she showed up before me limping, with a cane that barely supported her, but with the desire to be useful anyway. The sultry heat of that morning did not affect her determination and, to be honest, it was not easy to decide what job to assign her so that she would not feel excluded from the group of volunteers. The goal of the day was to tidy up a public area that had been left to general neglect for too long. There were those who cut the grass, those who took care of building an area dedicated to separate waste collection, those who pruned the hydrangeas and, also, those who tried to cover the numerous holes in the parking lot dedicated to cars. I gave Mrs. Piera the task of helping to paint an iron railing that completely surrounded the area. It seemed like the most suitable choice. The brush in one hand, the stick in the other, and a few physical movements to make.

Time passed quickly, like every hour dedicated to volunteering, in which the minutes are never enough for all the actions we would like to continue doing, and I honestly didn't think about Mrs. Piera anymore. Then, when the time came to say goodbye to the dozens of people who had joined that fantastic activity, I also saw the wonderful "old lady" again. She was always there painting, with the brush in one hand and her stick in the other, which had not yet tired of supporting her. She had a tired look, but she seemed happy. She painted and smiled, and it was as if these two actions could not be divided. When she finished her work she came to me and thanked me.

From that day on, Mrs. Piera, always equipped with her beloved walking stick, and probably convinced that she had to revolutionize her old daily routine made up of sofa and television, began to participate in many other activities in the village. She collaborates on a stable basis with the “crochet group”, made up of ladies who masterfully use this ancient technique to cover municipal street furniture; she frequents the “Salottino”, a space dedicated to seniors where cultural and social activities of great interest are practiced, and she has also become a regular presence in my weeks. Every Sunday, together with my wife, we pick her up at home and go to mass, then, after sharing lunch and our experiences with her, we take her home to wait for the following Sunday. Not a Saturday goes by without me receiving a message from her saying: “Are you there tomorrow? I love you. Your second mother”. All reinforced by dozens of little red hearts.

As the months go by, Mrs. Piera no longer waits for us at home, but along the road that leads from her house to the village, because she has decided to walk again. She started with a few dozen meters, which then became hundreds, and now thousands. So many that she has to abandon her beloved walking stick.

Mrs. Piera is a special woman, one of those who express kindness in every gesture, in every word, in every look. You can see that she loves life and, despite having recently lost the man who accompanied her for almost fifty years, she has no intention of letting herself go, she wants to live every moment she still has available, because this is what God taught her.

I have learned for a long time that there are no limits to love, you can give and receive it without any filter and without any risk that it can be fulfilled, and for this I am truly grateful, also because it is the feeling that has turned my life upside down. But I am still always amazed when I meet people like Mrs. Piera, who – without a doubt – today I can say that I love with the purity that this feeling has taught me, because she is the demonstration that love only has the rule of having to be accepted.


Max Laudadio
NP August/September 2024