The old lady took two plastic chairs out from her very tiny courtyard every morning.
Then she sat there quietly and looked around.

The few inhabitants and the fewer guests of the island greeted her walking by; she whispered “ Buongiorno” with a smile.

Sometimes someone sat for a while on the other chair, by her, and they had a close and friendly conversation for a while; this was probably the reason for taking out two chairs, as an invitation....

When the vendors opened their stalls, which were exactly in front of the old lady’s chairs, she offered to keep an eye on them, while a stall owner decided to go for a coffee.

Later, when the tourists arrived by boat and they might be interested in buying a postcard, a scarf, a painted vase, she invited them to wait, with another little smile, if the seller was temporarily absent.

When the last boat of the day left the island and the sunset started making the shadows longer, the old lady gave a last look around to be sure that her little world was in order and then she took the two plastic chairs, and disappeared inside her home.

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”