A Fresh Start Ended Dating Frustration

Dan Flaherty

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Success Stories

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January 22nd, 2014

Elaine was looking for a fresh start, but pursuing a relationship seemed to be hitting a dead end. The 68-year-old from St. Louis decided to let go and let God decide when the timing was right to start anew. In the meantime, she gave up on feeding her dating frustration, and went a different route in looking for that fresh start.

“Having no family in the St. Louis area, I decided to head back to Arizona,” she said. “I longed for family connections. My many friends are wonderful and supportive, but they are not family.” Elaine let her subscription to CatholicMatch lapse, but it wouldn’t be long before she found reason to return.

Elaine received a notification that someone on CatholicMatch had sent her a message. That someone was Richard, an 80-year-old widower from the southern part of Illinois. She went to check out his profile.

“For some reason his profile seemed to really speak to me,” Elaine recalled. “I renewed just to follow up on this person and after emails through CatholicMatch, then phone calls, and)finally a dinner meeting, we began to date and meet each other’s families.”

After giving up her desire for a relationship to God, Elaine found herself part of a new, extended family that welcomed her.

After an initial concern about their age difference, Elaine realized that Richard was in fact the healthiest and most active one. For his part, Richard loved Elaine’s upbeat nature. “Elaine is intelligent, a positive thinker, and has many interests,” he said. “She is friendly and outgoing, and committed to the Catholic religion.”

Elaine was touched by the outpouring of support from her friends and family. Her son, and his family have been very supportive and she has one granddaughter. Now she feels the same connection with Richard. “We have so many things in common and share a love of traveling. At our age it is wonderful to find a companion that enjoys theater, movies, and game playing in the evening. We both wanted to be certain that vegging in front of the TV would not be our only activity.”

After Elaine’s first marriage ended in a bad divorce and was subsequently annulled by the Church, she now has not only her own son, but four new adult children, twelve grandkids and even two great-grandchildren are now a part of her life.

“All this after I had decided that being single would be my life. I was making plans to be as comfortable and happy as possible, even though I longed for a companion,” she said. “When we just turn our lives over to God and don’t try to force the issue, he will lead us down the right path.”