Marie Kondo is (again) having a moment. Her Netflix show, which debuted New Year’s Day, has been a huge hit across the globe. If you, like me, devoured her book back in 2014 when it first hit our shores, you’ll enjoy watching transformations happen before your very eyes: cupboards cleared of moldy food and lined with neatly organized spice jars, piles of clothing disciplined into smartly folded rows, garages returned to their proper usage as ...  actual storage for cars.

The results are certainly more organized, beautiful, even. But are they life-changing?

The cleaving of my family tree from its ancestral roots may have happened over forty years ago, but it hit me just today over my kitchen counter. Even I was surprised when the tears fell. Why now? A few days earlier, we found out (in true modern fashion) via iMessage from Taiwan that we had just lost my maternal grandfather (ah gong). At the time, I said, “Oh that’s sad,” and then carried on with my day. Or at least I thought I did. But my subconscious knew better -- family is never that simple.