Both had reasons to give up on online dating.
Krystyna had been on CatholicMatch for two years without much success at meeting someone. Daniel had a different problem: he was much newer to CatholicMatch but he was having trouble getting the attention of Krystyna. He sent her one message with no response. So he sent a second one. And then a third one—all to no avail.
It was only a few days later that Krystyna noticed she had three messages from someone named Daniel and responded.
After talking for about a week on the site, the Maryland natives decided to meet up. “We met at a coffee house, even though I despise coffee,” Daniel said.
But I couldn't find her because her hair was down!
Once again, they nearly missed each other. “I walked past her on the street before we met, I didn’t recognize her because her hair was down, and all the pictures I saw on her profile her hair was up!” Daniel said.
He was able to find her only when he dialed her number and saw her pick up.
Once they connected, they hit it off. “I’ll never forget the look in his eyes on our first date. I was talking about myself and he was listening intently. The look in his eyes was so pure and beautiful, unlike any that I had ever seen. I remember my stomach did a flip,” Krystyna said.
Oblivious to the passing of time, the two ended up staying at the coffee shop until closing.
Both said they were attracted to the other because of their firm commitment to their faith. “Daniel and I share the same values. He isn’t a cafeteria Catholic. He’s the real thing,” Krystyna said.
It was the picture of her nephews that did it.
Daniel had also been drawn by Krystyna’s beauty and smile in her profile photo. “When I first saw her profile picture I was struck by her beautiful, almost luminescent, blue eyes and this really nice, genuine smile. I loved that her profile had pictures of her having fun with her nephews, which I really liked because it showed she was family-oriented and kind,” he said.
The two were also in sync in other areas, such as musical taste: Daniel says he was excited when he saw that Krystyna was a Beatles fan in her profile. She, in turn, was pleasantly surprised when Daniel told her he had been listening to “Beyond the Sea,” a romance song from the 1960s that people their age—they were in their late 20s—wouldn’t typically listen to, Krystyna said.
Both Krystyna and Daniel see divine Providence at work in the timing of when they met up because six weeks after they had started dating, tragedy struck her family when her mother died. Daniel says that he can see he was called to be her “rock” during a time of “devastating loss.”
“He was my support through the very painful experience. He was there for me despite only having known me for a short time. My family and friends were impressed, and so was I. Without him in my life, I don't know how I would have gotten through Mom’s passing and the long and arduous grief period. He was amazing,” Krystyna said.
Krystyna says it’s her mother’s advice before her passing that helped convince her than Daniel was the one for her. “My Mom…told me that you know he is the right one if you feel at peace,” Krystyna said, adding that things feel right and that she feels at peace when she thinks about Daniel and is with him.
She also draws added peace about their relationship by the fact that her mother was able to meet him before her death and approved of the relationship.
In early August 2017, after nearly a year of dating, Daniel and Krystyna got engaged and are to be married October 6, 2018.
Fittingly, their engagement memorialized her mother in a special way: “I was blessed that her father was willing to part with his late wife’s engagement ring to be Krystyna’s engagement ring; I know that the ring serves as sweet reminder to her of her cherished mother,” Daniel said.
