After spending several months pessimistically speculating about Internet dating, I decided to try Catholic Match because I wanted to do something pro-active about my love life. I decided to try a Catholic website because I had completed RCIA a few years prior and knew I wanted to be with someone who would understand my faith. I also figured there would be fewer psychos on a Catholic site! I joined right after Christmas of 2008 and was matched with many different guys in the Columbus, OH area. Right away I noticed one of my matches was a graduate student at The Ohio State University, just like me, and decided to contact him. His interests were music, football, politics, and the fact that he was “looking for” a person that he could actually talk to really interested me. After all, how many guys actually want to talk?
Kyle wasn't a full subscriber at that point, but perused my profile after he got my email. He noticed that I was an opera singer and also an Eagles fan (his favorite band) and decided that he would pay for a subscription just so he could chat with me (envisioning me as the big woman holding a spear and wearing the horned helmet from commercials). He was really wrong about his opera vision and says now that I’m the best twenty-five dollars he ever spent!
We began emailing through CM four days after I joined the site and continued to do so for the next two weeks. Our first date was at a local coffee shop on OSU’s campus and we talked for over two hours. He possessed so many endearing qualities and I felt like I’d known him a long time even then. Just listening to him talk about his students and his passion for teaching touched me and I knew that he was the real deal. I called my mom after our date and told her that he had a lot of long-term potential and that I was eager for us to get together again.
We dated for 15 months (6 months long distance since I moved to Florida to pursue a doctoral degree) before Kyle proposed a few weeks ago in St. Augustine, Florida. We had talked about getting engaged and looked at rings but he completely took me by surprise that day! St. Augustine is a very precious city to us, the oldest city in the country and the place where the first Mass was said in the United States. When we visit there we always go to the Cathedral Basilica since it is the oldest parish in the U.S. and so beautiful. On the day Kyle proposed he took me on a carriage ride through the historic downtown of St. Augustine. The driver pulled the carriage up to the cathedral and told me he needed to “feed the horse”. I didn’t understand what was going on, but let Kyle lead me out of the carriage and we walked over to the cathedral courtyard. As we were looking at the statues I noticed he was shaking. When I asked if he was feeling ok he got down on one knee and proposed in front of the statue of Father Varella. I started to cry in shock and this lovely tourist took pictures of the whole thing for us! We went back to the carriage when I finally began breathing normally and there sitting in the carriage were roses and a bottle of our favorite wine (which he had shipped down there from Ohio six weeks prior to our visit)! It was a perfect day and I’ll always remember it!
All I can say is that I’m going to marry my Prince Charming; the man who has earned my ultimate respect and shown me more love than I deserve. Even in the very beginning we felt just like family with each other. I always felt comfortable and safe with him, just wearing my sweatpants, talking in my silly voice, and eating ice cream. I never felt like I had to pretend to be someone I wasn’t.
We feel so blessed to have found each other. There are have been far too many coincidences for this relationship to be accidental and we hope our story encourages you to be proactive about your life. Have faith in God’s plan for you and good luck!
