I (Lynn) didn't date very many people and I was very scared of online dating. I had the idea that only desperate people tried online dating. I was convinced I'd meet a serial killer if I tried it. Anyway, my older sister and a couple of my cousins had tried Catholic Match without success in the past. A few years ago I had tried the site and actually met a pretty nice man, but he wasn't the right man for me. Since I was in nursing school, I let my subscription lapse.
As soon as I graduated, my younger sister and I were talking about how hard it was to meet nice Catholic men. She had looked at the site and really wanted to join. So, the two of us both signed up. When I signed up the second time I talked to a lot of different guys. My future husband had actually just sent me a nice little emoticon that said something like he was praying for me or have a nice day or something. I didn't think much of it and figured I'd be nice and just send him a message back. Little did I know that he had sent out a bunch of similar messages. After that he sent me an e-mail on the site. My attitude was that nothing serious could come of our correspondence because he was a few years younger than me and I had never seriously considered dating a younger man. I did think that there was no harm in getting to know him because I figured I could never have too many friends.
We wrote emails back and forth for a few weeks and then it somehow progressed to me giving my husband my number and him calling me. I started to change my mind and think John might be a man with a lot of potential. After talking on the phone for a few weeks we finally agreed to meet in person. We met in a public place due to my wariness of online dating. John was nothing like what I expected. We went to lunch and then he asked me to go to the museum of all places. I have to admit I was really scared because John seemed like a nice guy and I had never really been able to find a nice guy. I did a lot of praying and accepted another date. I think it was the third date that we really sat down and discussed important parts of our life experiences and what we were looking for in a spouse. We had many of the same beliefs on love being a choice and agreed that marriage was a lifetime commitment. We both understood that if our relationship were to progress to marriage it would have it's ups and downs and that we would trust God to help us through them. I also realized that John really helped me to become a better Catholic. I was raised Catholic and he was a convert. He had done a lot of reading whereas my faith was based very much on just that, blind faith. We dated for a few months before he proposed. Of course, he went all out and planned a romantic proposal in Germany (we had gone there for my niece's baptism and I was the Godmother).
Our relationship has had its up and downs, but one thing is for sure, God has been with us the whole way. I prayed long and hard before I came to the conclusion that he was a gentleman with whom I could spend the rest of my life. I also knew John possessed many of the chraacteristics most important to me in a prospective spouse... a strong faith, intelligence, and integrity.
