Covid took so many lives at the height of the pandemic, and nothing could have prepared Gina Salido, 45, from the desolation that engulfed her when the deadly virus claimed her husband, Luigi.
‘I never saw it coming – being a single mom. From day one of being a widow, the reality struck me right away. I immediately felt lost,’ she recalled.
She was crying to high heavens. ”Bakit ako? Bakit ako na naman,’ I said. I had been through so much, and I was also battling lupus and then, this… becoming a widow. I asked myself, ‘How in the world can I go on?’ she said.
At first, she felt like she was carrying the weight of the world all by herself, going about without a direction. The hardest days were what used to be the happiest – birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, school awards, Mother’s Day.
And then it hit her. There is no time to wallow in self-despair because she had to take care of their child, then just 10 years old. There are school bills to pay, food to put on the table, basically life going on as usual. It was as if the most important man in her life had not gone away for good, and the world could not wait for her to recover emotionally quickly enough.
Eventually, the passage of time had dulled the pain somewhat. It helped that Gina had a growing child, a daughter, who was going through her own teenage phase, who needed her mother with her. She had to be both mother and father. She had to really be present at this point in her daughter’s life.
‘Imagine being a mom and a dad at the same time. Despite of my illness, I’m blessed to have a strong body,’ she said.
Gina said she didn’t mind working two, sometimes three jobs, at the same time just to help make ends meet. She realized that because of the hardships that she had to go through, she has become so much stronger than she thought, so much more able to face challenges.
‘I had to be strong because my daughter needs me, and she deserves a mother who can stand tall through it all. Not broken, not wasted but someone who can raise her not just to be a princess but a warrior who carries kindness and strength in her heart,’ she said.
Now, the pain is still there as she still misses Luigi, but the tears have lessened. She is doing fine. Surviving. Thriving.