I had thought about taking pictures or some video of the apartment before I left. I knew that by the time I returned from America that MyeongHee would have moved in with her son and all their belongings. I thought that maybe a before-and -after collage would be interesting. I was wrong. And the old adage about one picture worth a thousand words doesn’t work either. It’s not about how different it looks. It’s about where everything went.

The bedroom was completely changed over,  with not a stick of furniture left. The living room got a makeover, too, with only the sofa standing guard over all the new recruits. But it’s the little things: the cupboards, the refrigerator and the junk drawers. Once everyone’s gone to work and school and I’m home alone, I can’t find anything. I was sort of messy, but at least I knew where everything was. Now, the entire apartment is immaculately clean and ordered. I just have to understand the order.