My family turned my failure into a public joke, so I waited until they realized the joke was on them.

Megan texted her: “Why are you liking everything? Are you acting weird?”

Emily replied, “No. Just keeping memories.”

Then she set her phone face down on the kitchen counter and slowly looked around her apartment. A brown water stain spread across the ceiling. The radiator rattled loudly every few minutes. The refrigerator contained almost nothing except continue reading …