After retirement.

Where would you like to spend your retirement?

As for me, I definitely want to spend my retirement here in my home country.

For me, that simply means living close to the people I love.
Relationships have always been the most precious part of my life, and when I finally have more free time, I want to reconnect with the people I haven’t kept up with enough over the years.

My younger brother and his wife came back to Korea this November after living in the U.S. for more than twenty years.

Even though they’re now dual citizens in their sixties, they chose to spend their later years here.

Every day, they go to our parents’ old countryside house, which had been empty for more than thirteen years after my mom had passed away, and they’re working hard to restore it.

While fixing the house, they often find small traces of our late parents—things we never noticed when we were younger and just trying to survive each day.

Whenever my brother discovers something meaningful, he calls me and tells me how much he suddenly misses them.

My brother's dream is to make the house beautiful again so our whole family can gather, have a barbecue in the yard, and create warm memories together.

Seeing this, I’ve realized that in the time I have left, I want to rebuild our sibling relationship and fill it with the affection we missed before.

Beautiful places like Greece are wonderful, of course.
But honestly, visiting once for about ten days would be enough for me.
Even when I travel to famous places around the world, the excitement is never the same the second time.

In the end, nothing beats my own country—a place where I can relax, feel safe, and spend my final years peacefully with the people who matter most to me.

These days, when I see wonderful daughters like Helen taking such good care of her mother, I think of my own late parents.
I wish I had done my  best for them until the end, but going through menopause I got exhausted in their later years , and I regret that deeply.

I can’t bring them back, so instead, I chose to take better care of my younger siblings here with me.

Sometimes I wonder if my parents are watching from heaven.

My siblings are actually better people than I am, but still… maybe because I’m the oldest daughter, they always feel like my little brother and sister to me—even though they’re already in their sixties. And that’s something truly amazing.

    엄마 살아 생전 친정 집 모습.