SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — On this Mother's Day, now that more people are fully vaccinated, families can officially reunite after a long year apart.
On April 29, Chris Sindoni made his way to San Diego from San Francisco. The day he had been looking forward to starting with a COVID-19 health screening at Merrill Gardens Senior Living at Bankers Hill.
After checking in, he was finally able to hold his mother in his arms, a warm embrace he looked forward to for more than a year.
“This is the longest I’ve ever gone in my life without seeing you,” he said while hugging her.
Both mother and son are fully vaccinated, and they were counting down the days, waiting for the precious moment to arrive.
“I miss him a lot, you can do FaceTime, but it’s not the same,” said Virginia Sindoni.
“It’s been a really long, hard year,” said Chris.
A really long, hard year for both. After suffering from a fall in late 2019, Virginia Sindoni moved out of her house and into Merrill Gardens, a senior living facility, in January 2020.
She had no idea things were about to drastically change just a couple of months later when the coronavirus outbreak was declared a global pandemic.
“When the COVID first started here, we were confined to our rooms, and that was the worst part of the whole thing,” said Virginia Sindoni.
“The anxiety was huge, and we saw facilities like this, nursing facilities, assisted living facilities that were getting hit really hard,” said Chris Sindoni.
Once vaccines were available, Merrill Gardens at Bankers Hill jumped on it, vaccinating all its residents. Now things are getting back to normal.
“They’ve done such a great job here at Merrill Gardens,” said Virginia Sindoni. “Now, they’ll let family come up to the room, which they didn’t before.”
The two looked forward to spending several days together.
“We’re going to be having dinner and a glass of wine or two or three," said Chris Sindoni.
His mother is looking forward to the future, and leaving some things behind.
"Getting back to life again, I would like to never have to wear a mask again," said Virginia laughing.
