It's been two days since mom and the kids left for Korea. It's only been two days, yet the house is already a pigsty. It'll be a month until they come back, leaving just me and dad to look after ourselves and each other.

I surveyed our rations for this week: twelve packets of instant rice and a few side dishes mom made for us before leaving. Add in a couple packages of ramen and a few canned foods and that's basically it. We're planning to get by with a combination of mostly microwavable foods and hopefully a lot more to-go meals starting week two.

After today's dinner, we had only eight packets of instant rice left and managed to save all of our ramen. We were off to a good start. We'd probably get by without having to make extra stops at our local H-mart. But of course, with mom gone, dad's friend came over to visit around 9 p.m. and easily finished off two of our ramen as well as a full can of spam I had carefully set aside for tomorrow. As dad's friend left around 10:30 p.m., I walked into the kitchen and I beheld a scene of ramen wrappers, unwashed dishes, utensils and a big 'ole pot of remaining ramen soup resting on the kitchen table as well as a glimpse of the bachelor life. And yes, I did the dishes.

But that was only the beginning of our many, many challenges, making it obvious my dad and I had been spoiled for too long. We decided to put off figuring out the intricate configurations of our laundry machine until tomorrow and instead brainstormed ways to wake up in the morning. With my dad being a super heavy sleeper and me taking after my dad, we both struggle with waking up before nine and 10 o' clock, respectively. I can usually sleep until 12 on the weekends, but mom is usually in our rooms by seven or eight, warning there'd be no breakfast if we weren't downstairs in the next five minutes. Even today, although I had prepared eight alarms from 6:55 to 7:40 in intervals of five minutes, set to the highest volume possible, I would've been late to school if it weren't for mom's friend who decided to give a wake-up call just in case we weren't up (we weren't,) and dad would've slept through the whole morning.

I also realized how forgetful I was, and if not for mom, lunch wouldn't be the only thing I'd forget to bring to school. Just this morning I had proudly put together a lunch of two bananas, water and oatmeal (not just because I didn't know what to pack or because I woke up late and had no time to come up with anything else whatsoever). If left it by the front door so I'd remember to take it with me but of course I forget to bring it and think I lost it during first or second period (I spent a good part of our 45 minute lunch looking for it). I also forgot to bring my textbooks, pencil case and chemistry and pre-calculus notebooks.

Another thing I realized was how dad and I got into arguments about everything-- from the best method of defrosting a tub of frozen soup (sounds weird, I know, but that's another story) to the most efficient way of doing the dishes (and how thoroughly they should be cleaned) to which dish soap was the best. And it was almost like I had taken up the full role of nagging at my dad during these mere two days of mom's absence and did enough nitpicking for the both of us.

Only after mom left did I come to fully appreciate what she's always done for us. And now all dad and I can do is try our hardest to make it to the end of June and hope for the best. There's probably be more to come, but this is it for now.