Samantha came to CatholicMatch with no expectations. She saw online dating as a tool to expand her available dating pool, but also saw other possibilities. “I was looking for friendship," she said, "and if it led to more that was great.”
The 36-year-old from Indiana works at an insurance company, and she saw that joining an online community was a risk-free decision if one approached it with the right mindset.
Joe was 35 and the Facilities Manager at the University of Illinois. He found Samantha and sent her a “smile” emotigram. “He wasn’t really into the e-mail thing,” Samantha said. “What’s the point if you don’t want to meet?”
As a result, it didn’t take long for Joe and Samantha to move from the electronic world to the real world. Even with a two-hour drive between them, he didn’t hesitate to ask if he could come and see her, and she didn’t hesitate to say yes.
The couple spent a great deal of time talking on the phone and making the drives back and forth. It’s the simple things that Samantha remembers most—“It was the conversation, she told CatholicMatch. “There was instant chemistry over the phone. He was polite and he made me laugh.”
In spite of that chemistry there will still challenges to overcome and Samantha and Joe took a brief relationship break in 2011, to allow themselves time to sort out what they wanted.
