When Charlie met Rebecca on CatholicMatch, she seemed like the perfect girl for him—both were Catholic school music teachers deeply committed to their faith.
There were just two problems.
First, was the two and a half hour distance from each other. The second was Rebecca’s busy schedule.
Excuses, excuses, excuses?
Charlie proposed one time for their first date, but Rebecca told him she was helping her parents. The second time she was visiting her grandfather in the hospital.
“At this point, I was starting to wonder if she was for real. Twice rejected!” Charlie said. “Throughout this process, I was repeatedly asked by friends and family how the dating process was going, and I dejectedly said that it was going nowhere. I told my sister that I had been talking to one lady, and that if we could ever meet up, something may actually be able to come from it, but up to that point, she was proving to be elusive.”
Charlie had already struck out with other women CatholicMatch over the previous two years. He’d gone on dates with several members and had two short-term relationships, but both ultimately went nowhere. One ended “quite abruptly and inexplicably.” The other came to an amicable end.
Finally Charlie and Rebecca set a date in February.
Then, she changed things up again.
But, this time, it was to meet up three days earlier. Rebecca called to tell Charlie she was going to a musical that night, asking if he was available to join her.
“Without a moment’s hesitation, I got in my car and made the trip to meet this elusive woman. Throughout the entirety of the improvisatory trip, I was questioning if this was the right thing to do, and if I was crazy to be driving down for one night!” Charlie said.
When he arrived, he says he was “in for a surprise.”
“Standing on the side, looking nonchalant, was Rebecca. To say that her picture didn’t do her justice doesn’t come close to the beautiful woman who stood before me. I was speechless and didn’t know what to say,” Charlie said.
“When he walked in ... there was definitely a spark there. He was super sweet and attractive, and we really hit it off after the show when we got ice cream. It was the best first date I had ever experienced!” Rebecca said.
Heading into the date, Rebecca worried that it might mess with their original first date. But, by the end of the night, her attitude had changed. “I was excited because we had a second date already set!” Rebecca recalled.
Over the next few months, they were together every weekend—taking turns making the two and a half hour drive out to where the other person lived.
One month in, Charlie took the initiative to suggest that they more firmly ground their relationship in their faith and the two started saying a prayer for couples that are dating. Then Rebecca asked if they could also pray the rosary together.
“This began a daily routine that we would incorporate into our telephone calls and when we were on dates. We both believe that Jesus is really the reason that our relationship has thrived,” Charlie said.
During the summer, their relationship matured as each had the opportunity to support the other. Charlie started classes for a postgraduate degree and Rebecca was a source of support while he was studying. Then she spent the second half of the summer in China teaching continuing education for teachers.
“When I was in China, it forced us to have space and it made me realize how much Charlie meant to me. It also solidified the fact that he was there to support me. When I was out seeing the world, I realized that I wanted to have him there with me, and that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with anyone else,” Rebecca said.
Distance allowed me to gain a clear perspective.
Charlie came to a similar conclusion, “Though I was quite busy doing my own studies at the time, I realized how much Rebecca really meant to me. This distance really allowed me to get a clear perspective and allow me to really pray about the direction of our relationship. When she got back, I was certain that she was the one that I was going to spend the rest of my life with.”
Soon after Rebecca’s return, Charlie headed over to her place to help her prepare for the school year. But he also had another reason for meeting up: he had decided to ask her to marry him.
“However, when I arrived, Rebecca was stressing out about the start of school. I started to question the wisdom of proposing at that time, but I was not going to be deterred,” Charlie said.
Finally, Charlie persuaded Rebecca to take a break and head over to a local church to pray the rosary. Once they had finished he pulled out a new prayer, to replace the one for couples.
“This was a prayer for engaged couples that would replace our prayer for dating couples. Finally, I got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife,” Charlie said.
Now the couple is planning their wedding and deciding where they will live as a married couple.
“We still have kept up with our daily rosaries and prayers, and are looking forward to continuing to grow in our relationship and faith,” Charlie said.
Rebecca said the thing that she most appreciates about Charlie as her future spouse is that he “goes the extra mile to make sure that I know that he loves me.” Charlie says he most appreciates how genuine Rebecca is in helping others. “She has a big heart and continues to challenge me to be a better person,” he said.
