At 25, Sasha was over conventional dating. “I wanted something real, Catholic, and someone who loved nature as much as me!” she remembers.
The place to start was CatholicMatch, obviously!
She was quite pleased at the pool of faithful singles she found, but didn’t click with anyone local. Soon she took off her distance parameters to see what would happen. And in January of 2025, she ran across 31-year-old Navy Lieutenant, Jack. Although she was living in Pennsylvania at the time, she decided to message him anyway. What was the worst that could happen, after all?
“From the start, there was an easy connection. Sasha’s adventurous spirit, deep faith, and sharp wit made every conversation feel natural, like we had known each other much longer!” Jack recalls.
Shortly thereafter, they began video chatting, and daily phone calls followed.
“We loved talking; so much so, I told him to pray a rosary and novena before he could text/call me in the morning!” Sasha laughs, playfully challenging the first-thing-in-the-morning messages! They prayed the Rosary over the phone together, too, and at the very end of February, set up their first date.
Jack flew to Pennsylvania for a memorable whitewater rafting on the Lower Youghguigeny River. Not your typical first date, sure, but one that reflected their love of the outdoors perfectly! Sasha picked him up at the airport and confidently led the rafting adventure, since she had worked as a rafting guide. To really seal the deal, she then cooked his favorite steak dinner to share afterward. (How could he not fall instantly for that?!)
Thus began their long distance relationship, which would be filled with flights, moves, graduations, and yet more moves.
Sasha was in grad school for a Master's in nursing the first five months of dating, so they only flew back and forth to see each other once or twice during that time. They relied on their phone calls and video chats to stay connected, a foundation they’d built from the start. Upon her graduation, and knowing she now had flexibility around her work, Jack asked if she would want to move to San Diego so they could date and move their relationship forward.
Sasha knew this was a big step!
“It marked the moment we both knew this was something lasting,” she says. So in June, six months after their first date, she got an apartment near Jack. They suddenly got to see each other all the time, instead of once every few months. It was only a few months later that another move came into the picture. Jack needed to move to Louisiana this time.
But he knew he wanted Sasha by his side for this move. “It was no longer just about where we were going, but who we were building that life with,” he says. They talked about what this future would look like, and both agreed that it didn’t matter where Jack’s military life would take them, as long as they were together.
On Thanksgiving Day of 2025, the two returned to Railroad Rapids, the place of their first date.
They did a looper run on the river once again, and at the very end, Jack proposed . . because he had carried the ring box along the entire time in his raft!
“Thankfully the ring stayed intact!” Sasha laughs.
The two currently live in Louisiana right near each other, and plan to wed at the end of 2026 at the Naval Academy Chapel.
“We are so grateful for the path that brought us here and can’t wait to celebrate this next chapter with you!” they say to CatholicMatch!
