Alberto and Martha had both been through the pain of divorce, but both had the joy of their children and both came to CatholicMatch to see if it might lead them on the path to that special someone.
It was 44-year-old Alberto who made the first move. The physical therapist from the suburbs of Chicago was looking more for communication and for someone who shared his Hispanic heritage. He found the 41-year-old Martha, who ran an independent cleaning business in Las Vegas and sent her an emotigram.
That emotigram led the way to chatting and phone calls over the next two months and they found much in common. They each had two children from their previous marriage. In Albert’s words “it seemed like we understood each other with the family.”
As the couple continued to spend hours talking, Alberto became convinced it was time to meet face-to-face. “You need to meet in person to be sure,” he told CatholicMatch. “Things could be different in person.” It was indeed the reminder that as much as cyberspace can draw us together, there will never be a substitute for flesh-and-blood contact to truly understand the nuances of human relationships.
Alberto made the decision to fly to Las Vegas, spend a few days there and see how things went. He was excited with what he found—the same chemistry that was there over the phone and in online chats was still there in person. “Our conversations picked right up like normal,” he recalled. He and Martha had something special together and were going to continue to push forward.
The distance was an obstacle, but while the numerous flights west haven’t blinded Alberto to the problems, he was more inclined to talk about the positives. “It helps me and it helps us to think about the relationship,” he said. The distance is also a guard against temptation, as Alberto candidly admitted, and prevents either of them from taking sudden action that might jeopardize the long-term health of the relationship.
It’s been six months that they’ve been together and growing the relationship and the next big step will be Martha’s first visit to Chicago, coming up in three weeks. Alberto is enthusiastic about the future and glad he came to CatholicMatch—“What I was looking for is what I found.” And now she’ll be on her way to him in a few short weeks.
