Saeng il chuk-ha hamnida (Happy Birthday)

Song Min’s 36th birthday was on May 10th. To celebrate, we had some friends over to our house. We did not have hundreds of people in and out all night…we had a small number of friends in and out all weekend.

Friday night, there were about fifteen people at our house, all guys (with the exception of my sister-in-law). By midnight, most everyone had left. However, there were four guys that partied all night. I write partied, because they did not sleep. At some point, the karaoke machine was switched to the X-Box 360 (Rock Band). 4:00 Saturday morning, I woke to the sound of 5 men singing falsetto and the top of their lungs. I just laid in bed and laughed uncontrollably. After they finished the song, I could hear them clapping and congratulating each other for playing so well. It was, perhaps, the funniest thing that I have ever heard.

Saturday, I went out to lunch and ran some errands with my grandma, while the boys caught some sleep at the house. By the time I got home, they had all left. However, it was just a break. Song Min knew that at least one of his friends would be back, so he “stayed up”, while I went to bed. At 1:00 in the morning, I heard Song Min’s cell phone ringing downstairs. Obviously, the birthday boy had fallen asleep on the couch and did not hear his phone ringing two feet away at the volume of a tornado siren. Soon, I heard it ringing again…no answer from Song Min. So, I got out of bed and made my way to the bedroom door, when I heard the doorbell ring (which freaked me out for a split second…because unlike Pavlov’s dogs, I don’t salivate at the sound of the bell, I hide). I looked from my bedroom door and could see a couple people at the front door - Song Min’s friends. Ugh.

Sunday morning, I heard an alarm going off downstairs. It was Song Min’s buddy’s phone, set bright and early in order to get to the airport for his flight back to NY (yes, Song Min had a friend fly in just for his birthday). Anyhow, Sunday afternoon, once again, we had an empty house…for a while. Sunday afternoon, another friend was over for dinner and stayed the night. I went to bed around 11:00 and woke up Monday morning for work. Both Song Min and his friend were asleep. Monday evening, after a normal 7-4:00 day at work, I returned to the house to find Song Min’s friend still there.

On Monday, May 11th, at 8:00 P.M., the party weekend was officially pronounced over and done, Song Min hung up his birthday party crown for the year, and I finally got a full night of sleep.

Happy birthday, Song Min…until next year!