Today was our first wedding anniversary. Wow! I still can't believe that it's been a year since Lu and I said, "I do."

Since we're going to Seattle in a few weeks, we decided to have a low-key celebration: get dressed up, enjoy a nice dinner, catch a funny movie, and end the night with... well, you can figure out how married folks end their anniversary!

Instead, I'm laying on the sleeper sofa in the living room and writing a blog post. How did this happen?!

Well, Lu was feeling queasy last night, so we went to bed a little early. He didn't have an appetite this morning, so we decided to skip the gym. He felt weak after church, so he decided to take a nap. A fever, chills, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, several cups of tea, and too many hours of junk television later... we decided to call it a night on the couch. (I refuse to have a television in the bedroom. Since we're already so "cozy," we didn't see the point in moving.)

At first, I was totally selfless. My husband's sick. I nurse him back to health. I didn't even understand why he felt bad for "messing up" our plans. I love him, he needs me, and that's all that matters. The Melting Pot will be there another day.

Then after walking the dog, doing the dishes, deciding to fold laundry, writing cover letters for job applications, and checking out a few new apps for my iPhone, I hear Lu say five words that totally changed my perspective, "I'm feeling so much better."

Instead of happiness, my first instinct was frustration. Really? I spend our anniversary wearing stretch pants and folding towels for him to decide that he's feeling better? And 30 minutes after I eat leftovers?! What the heck, he never even gets sick anyway! Today, of all days, he decides to succumb to some random stomach virus, and I spend the day running around like a nursemaid. Now I'm tired, and his sickness is just over???

I didn't say any of this out loud. (See? I have learned a lot in this year of marriage!) However, I had to mentally check myself real quick: Lu and I were able to spend the entire day together. We woke up together, we showered together (well, we did), we went to church and worshipped together, and we lounged on the couch all day long.

As I imagine our future, I'm sure there'll be anniversaries where I'm pregnant and moody, where one or both of us is working late, where we'll be at a dance recital or a football game for the kids, where we'll be traveling for a conference, or when any of life's other commitments get in the way.... And then there'll be the anniversaries where only one of us is alive on this earth to remember the love that we shared.

Only God knows what's in store; but thinking about what the future will likely hold, I'm sure that I'll long for the day when I can go to bed on a sleeper sofa listening to my almost-100%-healthy Lu snore softly beside me with Maggie curled up at our feet.

This has been an amazing anniversary. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be cuddling with my husband for the rest of the night.

Over the weekend, Lu and I went to a conference together. Unlike our va-conferences -- where one of us works and plays and the other mostly just plays -- this event was one of those rare, cross-disciplinary occasions, where both of us were firmly in our developing scholar roles.

At dinner, I leaned over and whispered in Lu's ear, "I think you're the sexiest guy in this room."

To which he confidently replied, "Even more than that guy right behind me?"

Ironically, I'd actually checked out the "guy right behind him" during dinner and thought, "Hmmm, if I were single and Lu wasn't here, I'd definitely try to find an opportunity to flirt with him."

In fact, the guy had even approached the dessert table when I was there; and over a brief exchange about cheesecake, I was thinking, "Yep, single Val sooo would've given him a business card."

Therefore, when Lu brought up this guy confidently (and even with a smile), my jaw dropped! My thoughts raced, "How the heck could he know what I was thinking? Did he see us talking earlier? Was I flirting with the guy?! Oh, no! I thought I'd put away the unintentional flirting. Darn it, darn it! I need to work harder."

When I asked Lu how he'd picked this guy out of the 200-person crowd, he mentioned that I have a very distinct type. Lu and I received our undergrad degrees from pretty much the same place. Even though we didn't know each other, he knew, knew of, and/or even had classes with a few of the guys that I dated. The other guys, he'd seen pictures of on Facebook. (Gotta love Facebook.)

Yeah, awkward.

Lu described my type as, "Smart."

Okay, well, everyone at the conference was getting a PhD, so that one was pretty easy.

Then he elaborated, "Not just smart, but not afraid to be smart. But not like a nerd either. Like he'll be attractive and almost have swag, but it's still kinda awkward. Like 'Yeah, I'm intelligent, I'm attractive, I'm confident... now.' You like those well-rounded guys that have evolved. Other women might notice them, but you'll be drawn to them. Yep, I know my wife."

And he surely does. Okay, whatever. Maybe this does describe most of the guys that I dated and definitely men that I really liked. However, how did he pick this guy out of a crowd?

"Because he's the kind of guy that I'd make friends with if I were alone at this conference."

To which I replied, "So, you think I'd date your friends?"

Lu immediately said no but paused, "You definitely wouldn't date my friends, but at a place like this, I think we're attracted to the same people. Not attracted, like that, but you know. Like if it were a woman with the same characteristics, you'd probably try to strike up a conversation. But since it's a guy..."

"So, you think we have the same type?"

"In a sense, yeah. I'd notice him and make friends. You'd notice him and flirt... well, you would have if you weren't married."

Okay, I can see that. Interestingly enough, I think it's actually a good thing that my husband and I are drawn to the same types of people. It's weird and a bit unnerving, but it's also pretty cool to be married for almost a year and find out that we're compatible in yet another way.