My little girl has grown up.

I remember writing about her when she was sixteen, going on seventeen. Now she has left those teen years behind and is gingerly stepping into her twenties.

Imagine that!

I simply cannot get over the fact that I have nurtured her this long.

Of course there have been times when I have let her down with my irregularity. But then I must say I had made up for that by being prolific at other times.

I am of course talking about Shail’s Nest.

As she grew in years, she has watched the sons grow and fly the nest, welcomed the fourth child Luci into the family and mourned her passing, travelled with me across countries, accompanied me through illnesses, paintings, butterflies, birds, laughter and the countless ordinary days that became stories to be shared to the world.

Today morning, WordPress told me it was on this day, all of nineteen years ago, that I signed up. Until then I had been blogging at the now extinct Yahoo! 360.

Once settled here, I have not had the urge to move anywhere else.

I have had invitations from friends to hop on to other, newer platforms. But I was/am not inclined to make the change. Nothing else seems attractive enough for me to bother.

One day, when I finally decide to hang up my boots, I shall do so from here. Of that I am sure.

Believe me, I have thought of it many times of winding up action. This especially so over the last few months. I have faced some setbacks to my health which made me seriously question my ability to continue to maintain this blog.

But..

My love for writing is way too much to let me give up on my girl.

Watching her turn twenty, and still have the three and a half people comment on what I write (there are many more reading, I know that for a fact. Gotcha there, you lurkers!), still gives me a high that I am not willing to give up… for now at least.

So yeah, here we are, my girl and I, to thank all of you for your love and support.

©️ Shail Mohan 2026