Happy Anniversary: A Success Story

Happy Anniversary: A Success Story

Today is my four year Wedding Anniversary. Back in 2010 I took a leap of faith and joined my first online dating site, CatholicSingles.com. I had no idea what to expect. I was excited and nervous at the same time. A friend of mine had met her husband online and I really admired their marriage. I had followed their entire journey from the beginning and since they lived five hours away from each other, I decided I would leave the distance up to God.
I created my profile, but decided not to put up a picture. What if someone recognized me? I wasn’t famous, but I thought I would ease into it and add a picture later. I did, however, fill out the questionnaire and answer all the essay questions. I knew if I wanted any response at all that I would have to do that. Although I was mostly interested in reading everyone else’s profiles than providing one myself, I thought it was only fair.

Well…I have to admit. Nobody wrote to me…lol. I guess not putting a picture up wasn’t the best choice, but honestly, I wasn’t sure this was for me anyway. I saw a profile that interested me, wrote the guy and never heard back. I decided I would take down my profile. Then…my eye caught something that would eventually change the rest of my life…a little feature that said you could see who looked at your profile.

I clicked on the icon and noticed that a few people looked at my profile, but none had contacted me. So much for my thoughtful essay answers. One of the guys who looked at my profile really intrigued me. We seemed to have so many things in common…our faith, music, theatre, sports, love of animals and amusement parks! He had pictures up which included friends, family and his dog. I decided I would not take down my profile and think on it a few more days.

Well…next morning I was still thinking about the guy. We were the same age, but the age range he was looking for was two years younger than me. What’s wrong with dating your own age? I checked out his profile again. My heart and mind were racing…should I write him? After all, he saw my profile and never wrote to me. He lived an hour and a half away so I knew if he didn’t answer me at least I wouldn’t run into him at Mass (#always thinking). I hadn’t upgraded after the free weekend, but there was a three month special that was in my budget so what was my excuse? Although in the big scheme of life I was praying that one day I would find my future husband, I also had very realistic expectations about joining the online dating world…maybe I would meet someone nice and maybe I wouldn’t…no big deal. Maybe I would make a new friend who I could go to church with now and then and who knows…maybe he would have a friend he could introduce me to (#stillalwaysthinking). I decided to go for it.

My first email was short and to the point. Something like, “I know you viewed my profile, so you know my story. I see we have a lot of similar interests, maybe we could meet up at Knott’s Berry or Disney one day.” My thoughts on first dates/meetings is to always pick something you might enjoy so even if you don’t hit it off, at least you did something fun (#timeisprecious). Well, guess what? He responded! After a few emails back and forth and a phone call, we set up a time and day to meet up at Downtown Disney for coffee. Full disclosure… I really wanted to go into the park for the day and thought he was back pedaling on suggesting coffee instead of the park itself. I mean, I was going to pay my own way and he had a pass, but I think he wanted to pick up the tab the first time. I found out later that he wanted to make sure I was someone he wanted to hang out with for a full day at the park before he committed…too funny.

There’s something to be said about dating in your 40’s (at least for me), because there is no pretense. I find it easy to just be myself. My thought is if there isn’t something you like right off the bat that’s genuinely me than what’s the point (#ihavequirks). The day didn’t end with “I think I just found the person I am going to spend the rest of my life with”, but it was a definite, “Wow…this guy is so nice. I know I have a new friend for life.” There was no lack of conversation. Although I grew up in New York and he grew up in California, it felt like a class reunion of sorts. It felt like we had always known each other somehow. He describes it as if we had been lab partners in High School and he was a pain and I would only talk to him in lab (little did he know, I talked to everyone back then and now #forbetterorforworse).

So…you probably have guessed the ending of my story. We dated, got engaged and married on July 23, 2011. There’s a little part I left out though…four years ago, I became Mrs. David Nevarez, the wife of the founder of CatholicSingles.com. And in case you’re wondering, he left that part out of his profile. He created the site back in 1997 hoping that in a few years or so he would be able to follow in the footsteps of all the Success Stories that he had been receiving. Hopefully, I was worth the wait.

So today, I would like to say “Happy Anniversary” to my husband David. Thank you for asking me to marry you. Thank you for including me on your life’s journey. Thank you for bringing me even closer to my faith. Thank you for your love and patience and thank you for re-thinking your age range to include someone two days older (#cougarsrock)!

And thank you to all the members past and present of CatholicSingles.com. It takes a Village and you were mine. I continue to pray that you all find that special someone.