Early in the morning, I called my mum. It was the feast day of St Bertha. She remembered an old woman called Bertha in her home village, who lived with her sister in poor circumstances. Both of the elderly woman's brothers had died in the First World War. The two old women were shy and often alone. And then my mum told me: "I remember well that mum - my grandma - went to these people every afternoon for a good half hour and just shared time with them. That way, the two old people kept in touch with the village and weren't left behind!" I was amazed, as my grandmother and her husband were responsible for a small farm and 10 children. With all this, she had found time for this golden half hour every day.
