{"id":3502,"date":"2011-09-20T22:27:23","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T22:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womantalk.org\/?p=3502"},"modified":"2011-09-20T22:58:06","modified_gmt":"2011-09-20T22:58:06","slug":"happy-birthday-songbae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.womantalk.org\/?p=3502","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday, Songbae!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian is sleeping and I’m tearing myself away from my book (A Clash of Kings – the second in the Game of Thrones series) to write a happy birthday post for my brother. Especially seeing as how I never got a card in the mail.<\/p>\n

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Unsuspecting Songbae arriving at the Bishkek airport.<\/p><\/div>\n

I maintain that time and energy are the best gifts. Anyway, I already gave him a paddleboarding session this summer as an early birthday gift, and even bought his favorite pens to send in a care package (but now that I’ve learned that my mother already sent him the same Zebra F-301’s, I’m keeping this set for myself).<\/p>\n

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Songbae's delighted face when he realizes that his entire department has come out to meet him.<\/p><\/div>\n

Songbae is doing well; it is no surprise to our family that he is well-loved by his department at his micro-finance non-profit company, Kompanion. He is the chief financial officer (CFO) there, and when he returned to Bishkek from his 2-month summer holiday, not only did his entire department come out to the airport to greet him, but one of the interns had made a 15-minute Songbae documentary!<\/p>\n

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The sign they made for him - check the descriptive words under each letter.<\/p><\/div>\n

I wrote an appreciative post about him for his 40th<\/a>, but here’s another, because it’s fine to continue to appreciate the people in your life.<\/p>\n

Songbae,<\/p>\n

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  1. I love how committed you are to feeding your brain. You read constantly!<\/li>\n
  2. I love how committed you are to your emotional health. Impressive.<\/li>\n
  3. I love that you demand regular family reunions.<\/li>\n
  4. I love how charismatic you are.<\/li>\n
  5. I love how much Christian (and Bella) laugh when they are with you.<\/li>\n
  6. I love you generous you are, with your time, energy, and money.<\/li>\n
  7. I love how little you care about material possessions.<\/li>\n
  8. I love your creative problem solving.<\/li>\n
  9. I love how curious you are about everybody and everything.<\/li>\n
  10. I love how you are a consummate connector – you really enjoy putting people and information together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!<\/p>\n

    P.S. Here’s the Songbae documentary.
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