December the 3rd. It's been a year since I came up with a title for a blog and purchased the domain right away. It was also a day when my 15 year old cat passed away and I found out the news the same evening. I was shattered so all my joys of starting the blog were left aside for quite some time. It's heartbreaking to mourn a loss of a companion who was with you since you were a child. It gets easier with time, but it still hurts. It hurts even now. It was a strange timing but on the same day, I made a first step of pursuing my longtime hidden dream, which I did not even really know I had inside me. Sometimes the best ideas are spontaneous. They surprise you and you just wonder why I did not think of it earlier? That's how I feel about starting AWO Stories. I always had a need to express myself in some creative way, to let out emotions and to share dreams. I used to sing a lot, but only when I used to be home alone. I stopped doing that for a few years now because I thought that the neighbours, or flatmates (back in university days) will hear me. It was my thing and I preferred to do it in solitude. Ever since I stopped singing, I felt like something was missing. I was holding back, afraid to be who I am. But one year ago I got this idea to start a blog. To share my stories with someone out there. I did not have any clear vision of what I want this blog to be, I just needed a space of my own, although ironically it's on the internet - a place for anyone and everyone. And I am still not sure why I did not do this earlier, start this little place of my own. It would have saved me a lot of heartache for refraining from having a creative outlet. But there is a saying which puts all my wondering to an end - 'trust the timing of your life'. So when I started AWO Stories, it was the perfect moment, maybe the only time when I could ever start this.

With Love,

Bri