PHOTO: Bildbyrån
The grief is still great for the icon Börje Salming.
Now the widow Pia Salming opens up about the tough everyday life without her beloved husband.
– I see him everywhere, she admits to Sportbladet.
November 24, 2022 fell asleep Börje Salming in after several months of fighting against the incurable nerve disease ALS. He lived to be 71 years old and by his side until his last breath the family was gathered.
Life after Börje
Almost six months have passed since that sad day and the loss is still great for one of Swedish sports’ biggest giants and most loved personalities. Everyone in Sweden knew who Börje Salming was and he touched so many people during his lifetime.
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The daughter Bianca Salming has previously opened up about how much she still misses father Börje and how her own sports career helps her move forward. Now the widow also opens Pia Salming up about the tough everyday life without her husband and what life is like without Börje.
– It feels as if I have been amputated, as if a piece of me has disappeared. It started with our life changing overnight. Börje was tired, worried, unable to enjoy a glass of wine. When we got the diagnosis in May, the depression came. Now I see him everywhere. Where he sat when we had dinner, watching TV, when I’m doing the flowers… I see him walking around out there, touching. This emptiness. It’s been going well for a week now, I’ve been working and training, haven’t been too sad, but maybe I’ve taken myself out because sometimes I feel like I don’t want to go home from work. When the working day is over, everyone goes home to their families, their husbands, and it becomes so obvious that I have no one to come home to, she says in an interview with Sportbladet.
READ MORE: Bianca Salming’s beautiful tribute to father Börje Salming on his birthday – shows the private picture
Pia Salming’s words
The words are heartbreaking for everyone and those who have lost a loved one in life can understand the emptiness when a person you have lived with for so long leaves you. Pia Salming continues her open-hearted confession about life after Börje.
– Every morning I wake up and… I realize that this is how it is now. Börje’s children have come close to me, my colleagues have helped me, they have come here and knocked when they were worried. I’m grateful for my family but I still have my loneliness, because I don’t have him and it’s so hard. I am 56 years old and have already met the man of my life, but now suddenly he is gone. But it has to be like that, until it doesn’t hurt as much anymore. And there is a slight difference today compared to a few weeks ago, she says in the interview.
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When the loss is greatest, she takes out her mobile phone where she has immortalized Börje Salming’s voice.
– I lie down and listen to his voicemail on the phone, and I know exactly what he’s going to say. He called me a lot because he was free and I was working. I listen to the voice when he is sick, it is towards July, August, and I can hardly listen to them. So I go further back, and hear him talking about Christmas, it’s the 15th of December and he’s going to pick up the kids’ Christmas presents that we ordered and is so happy. And then he says “love you”. He always ended his messages like that, she tells the evening newspaper.
READ MORE: Mats Sundin’s strong confession about Börje Salming’s last days – and emotional words from his wife