At 35, Cleveland native Ann had already been on and off of CatholicMatch for several years.
She’d gone on dates and even ended up in a few relationships, but they all petered out one after another. Now, nearing the end of another subscription period, she decided to give the process one last shot with a novena and a message.
The message was to a man named Brian, a 38-year-old farmer from McCutchenville, Ohio. She’d never heard of the town, but at least it was in state, which was more than could be said for most of the people she was matched with. The novena was to St. Anthony to find her a good Catholic husband.
The day after her novena ended, Brian emailed her back, boldly asking for her phone number.
Ann, with two days left on her subscription, gave it to him.
“I remember I really liked Brian’s profile,” she commented. “It was simple and genuine, from the heart and not overly complicated or grandiose.”
A few texts, and Brian was able to set up a good time to call her. A month and a half later, after one or two calls a week, they decided it was time to meet in person and set up a date for a place about halfway between them.
The date started at a pizza parlor, where nerves obstructed the conversation, but as they walked down the street to St. Paul’s Church they began to grow more comfortable. Inside the church, they each made a wish, then went out to explore a baseball park, pond, and reservoir with a bridge, where they ended up being caught in the rain.
“By the end of the evening, we felt like we had known each other for years,” Ann said.
“We had set the tone for our relationship on the phone, so when it was time to meet in person we had the big moral discussions under our belt and could be silly and have fun!”
The next year or so saw them meeting regularly on weekends for these halfway dates. Brian took to sending Ann flowers on a regular basis.
“The first time I felt I loved Brian,” she recalled. “Was when I met his family for the first time and saw how he was with them, how he spoke respectfully and I realized the kind-hearted, genuine man I liked was no different with everyone else around him. There were no false pretenses and nothing was an act.”
Brian, for his part, reports that he first fell in love with Ann when they were riding the Ferris wheel at the county fair.
“It just seemed so easy to be with Ann, and we laugh like longtime friends.”
Then, on their first Christmas Eve as a couple, Brian secretly asked Ann’s father for permission to marry her. Nine months later (he’s a farmer; they’re patient), they went out to watch the sunset at a park on Sandusky Bay, playing on the playground like little kids and skipping rocks across Lake Erie.
Then, when there was no one else around, Brian gave what Ann describes as “a beautiful speech about commitment in marriage with faith and respect,” before proposing to her as the sun was setting.
In the lead up to their wedding, Ann (who said ‘yes,’ by the way) moved down to McCutchenville and secured a teaching job so as to be ready for when the time came. “Everything was falling into place so easily it was like it was divine providence.”
Meanwhile, Brian was a little uncertain how the city girl from Cleveland would adjust to life in the country.
Fortunately, it turns out that Ann had been longing to live in the country all her life. “I remember being at a shrine when I was younger,” Ann related. “Appreciating nature all around me, and crying out to God, ‘Why can’t you just give me a farmer’?” The Lord provides.
Oh, and as for that wish they made in St. Paul’s Church on their first date? They found out, much later, that they had both wished for the same thing; to be married to one another, if it were God’s will.
On July 6, 2019, their wish was granted
“For now,” Brian says. “We have many dreams together, such as filling up the barns with cattle, chickens, and goats, and adventures such as visiting national parks, ziplining, kayaking, and trusting in God’s direction for our lives. We are a good team, and if it weren’t for CatholicMatch, our worlds would never have collided!”
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