Jasmine could tell Ramiro was quite nervous before their first date.
“I saw him through the window taking his jacket off and on multiple times, he seemed unsure if he looked all right,” she recalls. Ramiro adds, “I tend to overthink everything! But I wanted to show Jasmine an awesome time for our first date, so I arrived with red roses and met her mom at her house so she knew I was trustworthy.” The couple went out to dinner and a comedy show, and by the end of the evening, Ramiro realized, “This is the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, she just doesn’t know it yet!”
Jasmine was 26 when she joined CatholicMatch in 2017. She was a member for just two months when she received a message from Ramiro, who was 28.
He had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and his priest could see he was unhappy.
“My priest suggested I look into online dating. I was kind of skeptical, but I decided to create an account on CatholicMatch,” Ramiro recalls. “The account was great! It made you think very clearly about your personal relationship with God and what you are really looking for in a significant other.”
Ramiro messaged people for a few days when he came across Jasmine's profile and saw she lived just 80 miles from him in California. He loved her smile and her profile seemed to match well with his own. “I quickly thought of the cheesiest pick-up line I could and then deleted it. I did that three times!” Ramiro laughs. What he finally decided to message was, “I see that you’re a registered nurse, does that mean you’re certified to save my life?” Ramiro waited only twenty minutes before Jasmine responded with, “Yes, but I hope you have insurance!”
Jasmine enjoyed Ramiro’s humor, and they communicated online for about one month before Ramiro mustered up the courage to ask for that wonderful first date.
“It was instant chemistry,” Ramiro remembers.
They had a second date, but then things took a turn. “We actually went through a one-year hiatus of not speaking,” Ramiro explains. “We had both just started in our respective fields (nursing and law enforcement) and knew we wouldn’t have time to dedicate to each other.” But as the anniversary of their first date drew near, Ramiro again contacted Jasmine and asked if she would want to go out again. That date rekindled their old feelings, and all seemed well in their world.
Until...they decided to set up a breakfast date where they could cook for each other. Ramiro had just gotten off an 18-hour shift, overslept, and missed the date. “Jasmine thought the worst of me, and I had no chance to apologize. I tried explaining and pleading my case to no avail. I then told her I would leave her alone, but I was devastated.”
When February rolled around, Ramiro decided on one last-ditch effort.
He sent a huge six-foot bear that said ‘Happy Valentine’s Day to her. “I figured even if it didn’t work, at least she would feel special on that day,” Ramiro says. Jasmine loved it! Ramiro next asked her to be exclusive and presented Jasmine with a Pandora Charm bracelet. Throughout the next year, Jasmine kept asking Ramiro when they would plan for marriage.
“In my mind, she deserves the world, and I wanted to do this right,” Ramiro comments on his proposal plan. It took him three months to come up with the money for an engagement ring, but the hardest part for Ramiro was the future in-law talk. “The BIG talk. I set up the interview and I was nervous, my knees were weak! But I pulled myself together and asked for Jasmine’s hand in marriage.” When Jasmine’s father asked Ramiro what he had to offer her, he responded, “These hands. As long as I have these hands, your daughter will never want or need anything and will have whatever she wants laid at her feet.”
Needless to say, Jasmine’s father approved!
Ramiro set up a surprise proposal at her parent’s house on August 14, 2020. It was Jasmine’s birthday, and he went all out with banners, a Mariachi, and a song he himself sang to her. Though his voice cracked and he forgot the words, Jasmine didn’t care. She was so thrilled that Ramiro had planned a birthday surprise and proposal on the same day. “The same spot where I took that jacket on and off, on and off, was the very same spot where I asked Jasmine to be my wife,” Ramiro smiles. “And she said yes!”
The couple plans to marry exactly one year from their proposal date on August 14, 2021. Ramiro adds, “I am so grateful to CatholicMatch. I would not have met the love of my life without you!”
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