They say that after the storm, the sunrise always appears. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it takes a little longer than we hope.
For a while, life felt peaceful again.
My new job allowed me to work from home, and our apartment was close to a beautiful lake. Every day, Gina and Kylie and I would go for long walks. During the summer, we would even go swimming together.
Gina absolutely loved the water. She would jump right in without a second thought. Kylie, on the other hand, was terrified of it. But because she adored Gina, she would always follow her. She would carefully keep one paw on the shore while the other touched the water, never fully committing but never wanting to be left behind either. Watching them always made me smile.
Then, in the spring of 2018, everything changed.
The company suddenly shut down.
Just like that, I was over forty, unemployed again, and responsible for two dogs who depended entirely on me.
I was scared.
This time, things became much worse than before.
The unemployment office made a serious mistake while calculating the number of benefit days I had left. To make a long story short, according to their calculations I had none left. Overnight, I found myself depending on social assistance.
Some people have asked me why I didn’t fight the decision or sue.
The answer is simple.
I didn’t have the money for a lawyer. And honestly, who wants to fight the government? Especially when you’re already emotionally exhausted. I was battling depression and barely had enough energy to get through each day.
Still, I kept one email.
One email that clearly showed the unemployment office had made the mistake.
I held onto it because deep down I knew the truth mattered, even if I wasn’t strong enough to fight for it at the time.
I remained on social assistance for more than six months.
Then another shock arrived.
I was born in Switzerland, but my parents are Italian, and I hold an Italian passport with a Swiss Permit C, which is similar to a permanent resident card. Because I had been receiving social assistance for several months and had accumulated debt, I received a warning that if I didn’t find a job soon, I could be sent back to Italy.
I couldn’t believe it.
The country where I was born was telling me that I might no longer belong.
The fear completely overwhelmed me.
I was over forty, unemployed, struggling financially, and responsible for two dogs.
I won’t lie.
Some very dark thoughts crossed my mind.
I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
But every single morning, Gina and Kylie gave me a reason to get out of bed.
Dogs don’t care if you’ve lost your job.
They don’t care how much money is in your bank account.
They simply need you.
Because of them, I had no choice but to get outside every day. We walked. We played. We explored. Without realizing it, they forced me to keep moving, and in doing so, they kept my mind just above water.
Many days, I would simply look at Gina and Kylie and think, “I have to keep going—for them.”
They became my reason not to give up.
Then, in the spring of 2019, something incredible happened.
I was offered a position as a manager leading a team of 70 people in a bilingual company.
Can you imagine that?
One year earlier I had been receiving social assistance.
Now I was leading seventy employees.
God truly works in mysterious ways.
We moved to another city and, once again, everything seemed to fall into place. We found a beautiful apartment with a garden, only a short walk from the forest.
More than anything, I was happy because my babies were happy.
The job was demanding. I worked long hours.
A couple of days each week, Gina and Kylie stayed with a wonderful dog sitter. On the other days, my lovely neighbour Isabelle looked after them while I was at work.
Life finally felt stable.
I remember thinking, “I hope it stays like this until I retire.”
But life had other plans.
At the beginning of autumn 2020, I lost my job once again.
COVID had hit businesses hard, and many companies were looking for ways to cut costs.
Most of the employees over forty were let go.
Read that again.
There was even an article in a business newspaper quoting the CEO’s strategy of replacing certain positions with younger employees.
To this day, I still wonder whether that was even legal.
This time, however, things were different.
I finally had the money to hire a lawyer.
The company eventually had to continue paying my salary for more than a year.
For the first time in a long while, I had something I hadn’t had in years.
Time.
Time to breathe.
Time to think.
Time to ask myself what I truly wanted to do with my life.
And that is when Ginabella was born.
Inspired by my three girls—my Diva, Gina, and Kylie.
The ones who never judged me.
The ones who walked beside me through every storm.
The ones who unknowingly saved my life.
Sometimes we think we rescue our dogs.
But if I’m honest…
Mine rescued me.
More in the next blog…