It’s been said that so-called “coincidence” is God’s way of keeping his anonymity. That proved to be the case with Randy and Darlene, a 60-something couple from Washington that saw seemingly unfortunate events turned to their advantage.
Randy joined CatholicMatch after his spouse of 40 years passed away and he was looking for companionship as much as anything. “I chatted with some wonderful women from all over the country”, he said, and he continues to keep in touch with some of them. Darlene was a widow who’d spent five months on CatholicMatch and while she’d enjoyed the company of a few gentlemen, there was no romantic spark.
Within a couple weeks of their online meeting, Darlene received bad news. Her position at a nearby university was eliminated and she was being forced into retirement. In retrospect, the fact she had to retire at the same time Randy was preparing to do the same is a big “coincidence.” At the time it left Darlene scrambling and rethinking what she wanted to do.
“I decided to give her all the time she needed,” Randy told CatholicMatch. “…if it was meant to be, she would indeed get back to me.” They didn’t correspond or chat for a month, but when Darlene reached out again, it just so happened that Randy was going to be driving through her hometown on a business trip. Another charming “coincidence” led to a get-together for coffee and they hit it off well.
Randy and Darlene took their dates to the outdoors and went rafting, boating and hiking in the Pacific Northwest. They talked candidly about what they wanted from the rest of their lives. The fact both had lost spouses had already forced them into stock-taking and Randy knew he wanted a spiritual and adventurous woman and Darlene proved to be all that and more.
“We became so comfortable with each other, that it was as if we had known each other much longer than just a few months,” Randy recalled. They began to talk about a life together and shortly thereafter he proposed. They brought their families together in a wedding that Randy vividly described—“A Mass, with our children and good friends with us, and a priest with a spirit that leaps from the altar, bubbles over, and brings true joy and meaning to the Holy Eucharist.”
Randy and Darlene are moving on with the rest of their lives. God supplied them with the opportunity to make things work, and this couple, not fearing the unknown and committed to living life to the fullest made it happen.
