“I’ve always had a penchant for adventures. While my Facebook feed showed pictures of babies and people ticking off milestones in their lives, my dream was to see the big world on my small bicycle, to meet every face and know every place, to live so close to the edge just to know I’m alive.

I had always wanted to leave this place any chance I got. I would have loved to live in different cities in the world. I wasn’t in hurry to do any grown up things like settling down. And while I was becoming this person, 2015 happened.

My mom passed on exactly a year ago; she lost her battle to lung cancer. And between the first time she walked into my room to tell me she had some bad news and the day she left us, everything had been a blur and confusing chain of events.

One moment she was so full of life, busy planning the house decor and making appointments to go for massages with me, and the next, she had changed into a woman who was trying hard to put up a brave front, struggling from the effects of chemotherapy and the painful surgeries she had.

In less than a year, I learned the real meaning of family, sacrifice and love. Life is truly short. We never have the time we thought we had with the ones we love so much, for that one last hug, one last kiss, that one last word. Life is too short to do the things that does not make you happy nor give you meaning.

So I started quitting. Even quit the man I was crazy about for the simple fact that he wouldn’t have made this place my home, because his home is 8,000km away. And finally I accepted the one who held her close the night before she left us. I just wished I had that one last word with her on my decision. I know it would have made her so happy.” – Sabrina, 30