At First, She Disliked Their Age Difference!
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In early 2020, Tommy "hearted" Gail's profile. She thought he looked cute, so Gail sent him a message. When she found out he was 21—two years younger than her—for a minute, she lost interest.
"I didn't plan to message him again because I wanted someone older than me, but Thomas messaged me the next day, and I felt intrigued," says Gail, who was attending college in Mankato, MN.
Tommy, from South Dakota, says he liked that Gail had a few years on him. "I grew up with nine siblings, so I enjoyed hanging out with people older than me. Besides age remains just a number, it's more about the person."
They met in person on the sixth day of their romance.
Gail and Tommy bonded over their love of sports and working out, which acted as a good segue for their conversations. After the couple texted a few times, they set up a time to speak over the phone. "Hearing her voice, I felt a much stronger connection with Gail," he says.
"We talked on the phone for hours, until 3 am, and we really got to know each other," she says. "After five days of late-night phone conversations, Thomas drove the two-and-a-half hours to meet me."
When Tommy first saw Gail, it hit him hard. "I felt excited to see her."
On the 7th day, he asked her to take the next step!
Off the bat, both Gail and Tommy noticed their height differential. "He called me short!" she recalls. "He's 10-inch taller than me. In all fairness, the first thing I said to him was, 'Wow, you're tall.' I am only 5'3."
For their first date, they went to Mass and then out to dinner. "We both wanted a partner that we could share our faith with, so attending Mass together was important to both of us," he shares.
Their date went well, and both could feel the chemistry they shared. The next day over FaceTime, Tommy asked Gail to be his girlfriend.
They had a park proposal!
On December 14th, 2020, Tommy took Gail to Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD, to propose. It's a scenic spot with a small waterfall and trees, and during Christmas time, it's lit up with beautiful lights. On the bridge, "I told her where my heart was at, and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her," he remembers.
Gail laughs, "I think I blacked out because I barely recalled what he said to me. I just kept smiling and looking up at him."
The proposal didn't come as a total surprise for Gail, though, because she suspected after Tommy kept trying to find a private place for them to talk.
Gail felt relieved to finally take the next step in commitment. "I was waiting a while for us to get engaged because we had talked about that happening sooner, but financial constraints delayed that from happening."
"Just create an account!"
Tommy and Gail's wedding is set for St. Joseph's Cathedral in Sioux Falls. They plan to have a large wedding. Gail jokes, "Seventy-five percent is Tommy's family, and the other quarter is mine."
She closes with some advice to members, "I highly encourage all the singles called to marriage to create an account! Don't be so picky when it comes to age or distance. I thought I'd never end up with someone two years younger than me or live in the Dakotas. Love makes you do crazy things, but it's worth it! I'm so grateful for CatholicMatch, for we wouldn't have met without it!"