Happy Birthda-versary!

For those of you who don't know, Jeffrey and I celebrate both of our birthdays and our anniversary in the same week. My birthday was last Friday (March 6th), his is Friday (March 13th), and our anniversary is today (March 8th). It makes for a pretty crazy birthda-versary, especially since we just had Valentine's day a few weeks ago, but it's still fun. We did have a party for my birthday, but I'm going to save that post for tomorrow when I've downloaded some pictures. We decided to do a little anniversary question thing, like those quizzes in girly magazines where you each do the questions separately and then compare the answers.

What is your favorite thing about being married?

Jeffrey: My favorite thing about being married (other than the fact that I have someone willing to cook for me) is knowing that I have someone who I know will support me every day. Whether I just rocked/escaped a test, or am nervous about having to do a physical exam on some grandma, or sad because I’ve gained (a little) weight, or frustrated because stupid San Antonio only shows Spurs and Houston teams instead of the Mavs and Rangers, I always know that Lauren will be there to listen, support, and encourage - or tell me to stop whining and take out the trash.

Lauren: Every night before we go to sleep, we talk in bed for a while. I love those conversations. They are rarely about important things, but they are always sweet and always sincere, and they always end in a kiss goodnight. It reminds me of sleepovers I used to have in grade school where everyone would stay up late into the night talking.


What has been your biggest fight?

Jeffrey: Moving. Everything involved with moving. It was a giant hassle in and of itself, but throw in 2 stubborn, “Type A” newlyweds and you get the stuff of which reality TV show producers dream.

Lauren: Whether or not he could keep his deer skull and hang it somewhere in our apartment. (He did not.)


What is your spouse's most annoying habit?

Jeffrey: It’s funny how love can make you blind to so many things that would annoy most other people. Lauren doesn’t have many habits that annoy me, but one thing that does is her eating. In all fairness, that’s a pet peeve of mine anyway, but it still applies to her. I don’t like the smacking, or chewing with the mouth open, or loud crunching, etc. I’m sure I do it too, but I can’t hear myself and thus it doesn’t bother me. So to solve our problem, we just eat at the same time so the crunching of my own food in my head covers up the sound of her eating.

Lauren: He makes a really gross snorting/growling/snotty/lougie (I don't know how to spell that) sound when his nose is runny. This year he has been sick three or four times, so I have heard the booger clearing quite a bit more than I care to!


What is the nicest thing your spouse has done for you this year?

Jeffrey: She let me marry her. Enough said.

Lauren: The question should really say "nicest things" because my answer is backrubs. Lots of backrubs. He's very good at getting out the knots that dental school puts into my neck and shoulders, and very sweet to give them to me so often.


What is your funniest memory together from this year?

Jeffrey: In our first week of marriage, we managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment and break a window. It wasn’t so funny then, but it’s definitely funny now.

Lauren: My favorite was when Jeffrey poured the milk into five different containers because the gallon bottle had a crack in it and he couldn't think of a good container to put it all into. I am giggling now even thinking of it.


What would you like to do next year on your anniversary?

Jeffrey: Our anniversary will likely always fall over spring break. Next year, I’d like to spend spring break in Hawaii, but I will actually spend most of my spring break studying for the Step I exam. Thus, we’ll probably just have another day trip like this year. Maybe we can do Sea World next year, as I know that she will LOVE that. Or maybe we can drive down to the gulf and spend a few days on the beach. Who knows? Ask me again in a year what we did.

Lauren: Go to Sea World! (Just kidding.) I'd love to go to a beach somewhere, but not Galveston. When I think of Galveston, I always think of the time my youth group went to the beach there in high school and found used drug needles in the sand. No thank you.


Why do you love your spouse today?

Jeffrey: I love Lauren because she has made this great transition in my life so much easier – and better – than had I been on my own. She makes me smile, makes me laugh, and makes me happy. But smiles and giggles don’t make a successful marriage. A successful marriage is built on love and perseverance and honesty, and she excels at all of those things. That’s why I love her this year, because I can tell how much she loves me by how much work she puts in to our marriage.

Lauren: For the record, I love him every day. I love him most today because I truly believe he loves me more today than he did yesterday. He works on our marriage, he works on being the leader of our household, he works on helping around the house--every day he tries to be a better husband.