After graduating college I had
been single for some time. I had enough life experiences to know what I wanted
and didn't want. Yes, I was quite jaded and tired of the illusion of happiness
while in previous relationships. I was done learning about myself and what was
out there. I was ready to find "the one." To help my search, I joined
Catholicmatch as a full member. I had already known about it and had a profile
on it (as a non-paying member) for 3 years or so. I signed up for 3 months. As
soon as I joined I was pretty active on the site. I would browse the possible
matches every few days. During the first couple of months I
messaged a couple of girls and formed a friendship or two, but I hadn't found
what I was looking for.
On November 4th, 2007
I followed my usual routine and I sat down to check e-mail and then decided to
take a look through the new recommended matches. I was sifting through the
profiles when saw I her picture. I stopped and stared at it. I
captivated by her beautiful face and gorgeous smile before I even clicked on the
picture to view her profile. I was taken aback by her stunning beauty. I clicked
to view her profile and read intently. To this day all I can say is that
everything I read seemed to give me a great sense of familiarity. Something
about the tone of her description and interests intrigued me and at the same
time made me smile and laugh. She sounded very genuine, honest, and
innocent . . . very rare qualities to find in anybody these days.
I read through her profile details many times. She was an environmentalist, a
lover of nature and she had also visited Medjugorje as I had. I didn't know of
too many Catholics that had gone there. She was studying to get her master's in
environmental studies in Madison, WI. I lived in the panhandle of Florida then
just as I do now. Yet I didn't care so much about the distance. I've always been
an idealist and I believed that anything was possible. I decided to send her a
message. I was myself in the message. I joked a lot in it and even called her a
"tree hugging hippie" and asked her about Medjugorje . . . haha . . I figured if
I didn't make her laugh then she didn't have the sense of humor I was looking
for. To be honest, I actually didn't expect her to respond. With a smile like
hers I figured she probably had a lot of guys sending her e-mails .
I'd probably just be another guy to her, but I sent the message anyway.
"What's the worst that could happen?" I told myself.
The very next day I received a
message from her. Needless to say my message got her attention and
she had a great sense of humor. She joked back just the same, and while I read
her message I laughed, smiled, and began to develop a very strong attraction to
her personality. I knew from that first message that there was a very strong
chemistry between our personalities. We exchanged a couple more
replies and then agreed to start talking on AOL Instant Messenger. Since the
very first conversation we had which took place she captivated my heart, time,
and attention. We would stay up until 2-3am talking online. Shortly thereafter
we bought webcams and we would webcam every single night. There wasn't a night
where we didn't e-mail, message each other, and webcam. We filled each other's
day completely with sweet messages, and romantic sentiments. We couldn't find
any lack of things to talk about. It wasn't just pithy conversation either. It
was very deep conversation where our only goal was to get to know each other and
to really enjoy each other's company. We would talk theology, life goals, life
tragedies and challenges, past life experiences, our spirituality, and much
more. There was no subject left untouched. We were never too scared to ask each
other anything and be honest with one another. We became best friends during
those two months.
One day we were talking and I
mentioned I had bought my ticket to go visit my parents and she mentioned that
she had also bought hers to go back home. We had already learned that we both
grew up in southern California but I had never really asked her exactly in what
city. When I looked up her parents address it turned out to be exactly a 60
minute drive from her parent's driveway to my parent's driveway! If I could have
done a back flip I would have! This whole time we were talking I hadn't even
realized that possibility. So we arranged to meet each other during our mutual
visits. I ended up meeting her the very 1st day I arrived in
California. Both of our parents knew about us at that point and they knew we
were very anxious to meet. In fact, to our surprise they were actually very
supportive of us meeting. I flew to California on a Sunday. I still hadn't gone
to mass that day so she suggested I could go to her parent's church and she
would go with me. I borrowed my dad's car that night and went to go see her.
After two months of staying up late until 3 in the morning talking, laughing,
and getting to know her and becoming best friends, there I was standing at the
front door of her parent's house ringing the door bell. She opened the door and
she looked even more stunning and beautiful in person. She looked like she
walked straight out of my dreams. SHE WAS PERFECT!! She was and still is the
most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She invited me in with her beautiful smile
and I walked in and gave her a big hug.
The first thing we did together
was go to church. It was perfect. Never had I taken any girl to church right
when I met her. It was very obvious that God brought us together and just like
Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple to God, so did Amanda and I
present ourselves to God. Since the very beginning we made God our center. We
went on our first date that night with her brother and his girlfriend, and it
went great. Yet I still held back. I still had doubts and
lingering fears as to whether all this was as we perceived it to be. We both
thought that was the only time we were going to get to see each other during our
visits. We were both afraid of taking time away from our families to see each
other. We didn't want our parents to resent the other for taking up precious
time that could be spent with our families. But instead our parents were eager
for us to see each other again, so we did.
On December 27th, 2007
just two days after Christmas we had our first real date alone. We set aside the
whole day for each other. We went on a picnic for lunch. There we
sat on a picnic blanket up in the foothills of LA. We could see all of LA as we
sat eating the delicious sandwiches she made for us. I was nervous. I wanted to
break the ice and put my arm around her, and hold her hand, but I wanted it to
be just right. I didn't want to be clumsy or stumble. I wanted to do it just
right. On the way back from the picnic I was working up the nerve to put my arm
around her or hold her hand, all the while we talked as we always do. Finally I
felt a jolt of courage and I put my arm around her waist and instantly as if she
had been waiting for it she cupped my hand very gently and lovingly with both
her hands. They were the softest hands I've ever touched. Instantly all my
nervous fear left me and it was replaced with this overwhelming feeling of peace
and calm as if suddenly everything in the world was as it should be. I don't
know how else to describe it. I knew from that moment that we were going to be
together forever and that it was meant to be. Not for a single moment did I let
her go. Even in the car I would hold her hand and she would lovingly embrace my
hand in hers and softly caress my arm and hand while I drove. She did it in such
a loving and innocent way. It made my heart skip beats. To this day everything
she does to me makes my heart skip beats. When she looked at me that day I could
tell I had her heart, and she had mine. We had the most perfect and romantic
date either of us ever had. Everything about it was perfect and so different
from anything else. We had a very romantic dinner that night at the Cheesecake
Factory. Then we went to the movies and saw "Bucket List". Everything was just
perfect the entire night. After the movie we were in the car. I was coming out
of the parking lot and I asked her "so where do we go from here?"
She thought I was asking for directions since I didn't know my way around her
hometown. She started to tell me where I needed to go and I said "no babe, I
mean where do you and I go from here?" She stopped herself and paused. She
didn't know what to say or how to answer, so I asked her to show me where we
could go to talk before I dropped her off back at her parent's house. We ended
up at this vista point where we could see the LA valley. It was beautiful up
there. There was a full moon, all the stars were out, and we are all alone. We
talked about everything that had happened in the last two months. We were
completely honest and frank with each other. We told each other everything we
thought and were feeling. We realized we both felt the same way about each
other. We realized we wanted more than anything to be together. We decided from
that point on we would be together and great things would happen between us.
Then I kissed her for the first time. We kissed under the stars
and the moonlight, while God watched us with a smile from above. We knew this
was meant to be. He led us to this point and we couldn't possibly be happier.
That night we fell
completely in love with each other and ever since then we have been falling in
love every single day. It has been 8 months since that beautiful night. We want
to get married and be together forever. We have been talking about it for the
last 7 months. These last 10 months since we started talking have been the
happiest of our lives. We have no doubt in our minds that we are soul mates and
that God meant for us to be together. She is "the one" for me. My
parents know it too and are thrilled. They still haven't met her yet they love
her like a daughter. They have seen how happy she makes me and they love her for
it. When we go back to California again this December we will celebrate our 1
year anniversary and my parents will get to meet her. We are
greatly anticipating this. I am in the process of looking for a job where she is
going to law school in Seattle, so I can move to be closer to her and take care
of her while she goes to school. If it be God's will then it will happen. Either
way we plan to get married in 3 years when she finishes law school and spend the
rest of our lives together. The hardest part is being patient and fighting off
our anxiety for the time we are still apart, but God gives us strength and we
always focus our relationship on Him.
Amanda and I pray that everyone
else out there that is looking for someone special find the same joy and
happiness we have found. Dreams do come true and yes the perfect love does
exist, but only with your true soul mate. Keep searching, be patient, have
faith, and you will find him/her. God bless. Thanks to everyone at
Catholicmatch.com for making the website what it is and helping my soul mate,
Amanda and I finally meet.
