Success Stories
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We still cannot believe our great fortune...
On Feb. 3, 2007, I answered an email sent to me by one of your members whose username was "Gonz". I live in New Jersey and found out my new friend lived in Wisconsin and I thought "well, everyone can always use another friend!" On May 3, 2008, my "friend" and I were married here in NJ and will have another ceremony for his friends and family on June 7, 2008 in Milwaukee. As soon as my home sells, I will move there.
My new husband had been alone since a 1991 divorce and although he has a very loving, close relationship with his 3 sons, he still longed for love and someone to spend the rest of his life with. Gonz had pretty much given up that he would ever find true love.
For me, my marriage of over 24 years ended when my now ex-husband had suffered a stroke and it changed him so much that he became a totally different person that included hating me. I felt lost, even though I too, have 3 great kids and 2 grand-daughter's. I missed being in love and being loved by a man that would want to grow old with me.
Thirteen months after that marriage ended, I was lucky enough that Gonz was also looking for the same thing as I was and even though I didn't answer the first email he sent, he tried again. We spent literally hours everyday on the phone for 2 and 1/2 months before we met in person, when I went to Milwaukee. We knew within a week after talking on the phone that we were in love with one another. We still cannot believe our great fortune of finding love late in life. It just goes to show that if you have faith in God, anything is possible. At times, it has been challenging, but our love and respect for one another is what has worked for us.
Thank you Catholic Mingle! Without you, Gonz and I would still be alone and missing out on the love of a lifetime!
Carrollj & Gonz
The Second Time Around...
The Second Time Around
His name is Gene/Deacon. He joined in February of '07. He wasn't looking for romance, just some like-minded friends. His wife had died in June of '06 and the AARP grief support group recommended he join an online dating site. But to this day, he doesn't know how he ended up at Catholic Mingle. He was a very young 66 years old.
My name is Pam/smpkg1946. I joined on my 61st birthday in August. A girlfriend from church had asked me if I had ever thought about joining an online dating site. I said, you've got to be kidding me! I'd never do something like that. She said she had heard about a really good and safe site called Catholic Mingle. Her husband had died about six years earlier and the last child had just moved out. I had been a widow for 23 years, but had just lost (March '07) a "significant other"; we had been together for ten years. I wasn't exactly looking for love, but I knew I didn't want to spend the rest of my life alone. There was still a lot of life left in this old gray mare! So I joined; she didn't......yet.
I "cruised" the boards, posting on topics and starting my own topics. Gene emailed me in response to one of my topics. I looked at his profile, but was a little hesitant about some of his answers. I was afraid he was still too attached to his late wife. To me it appeared he had lost the great love of his life and could never love again.
Near the end of September, an angel named Annie took over. She had seen some of our posts, looked at both our profiles, and thought, hmmm, these two would make a great couple. So she emailed him and told him I thought he was interesting. At the same time, she emailed me and told me that he thought I was interesting. He emailed me first and said, "Annie thinks we would make a good match, what do you think?" It just blossomed from there. I responded that I wasn't real sure, but would like the chance to get to know him better. So we emailed back and forth, sent each other CM cards, met in chat, and most importantly, said the Rosary every night in the Prayer Room. We got to know each other more and more. We exchanged personal info, i.e., other email addys, snail mail addy, and most importantly, phone numbers. And boy did we ever use the phone minutes. Every night after Rosary and some time in chat, we would call one another. We talked for hours....sometimes until 3am. We just didn't want to hang up and break that connection. I remember that first phone call; I was as nervous as a teenager with her first boyfriend. I kept rambling on and on. I wasn't comfortable with the silences yet. We still laugh about it; we laugh a lot together. But we can cry together too, when it's needed. Then the stock in Hallmark shot up as we started sending cards through snail mail to each other. The first one I sent was a musical card. Snow White was on the front and when you opened it up it played, "Some day my Prince will come". (And he has!) Gene loved it and has nearly worn it out from playing it so much.
The hard part of our growing relationship was the distance; all 851 miles of it. We wanted to meet FTF, but were having problems with the logistics. I was co-facilitating a group at church and he had barbershop on Tuesday nights, a lay ministry class on Wednesday, and choir practice on Thursday. I invited him out for Thanksgiving, but he had a parish festival he was obligated to. Finally, on 12/27 we met FTF. He says he knew the minute he saw me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He came through the gate wearing a green and red elf's hat. I was wearing a red velor Santa hat. He presented me with a box of chocolates and a long-stemmed red rose. I would have fallen in love with him right then if I hadn't already. I had a pretty good idea he was the "one" about three weeks earlier when we sang Christmas carols together over the phone.
We spent as much time together as possible during the next week getting to know each other. His hotel was only about six blocks from my house. I took him on a whirlwind trip of all the Lincoln sites and down to Belleville, IL to the Our Lady of the Snows National Shrine. We met another Catholic Mingler, Nicole, there for dinner and took in their fabulous Lights Festival. On New Year's Eve, we dressed "to the nines" and attended a gala ball at one of Springfield's finest hotels. Our first dance was "Close to You"......very appropriate. But it was during, "Could I have this dance for the rest of my life" that Gene says he decided tonight was going to be a special night. After the obligatory toast and kiss at midnight, he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. There was no hesitation...I answered YES, YES, YES!!!! A couple of days later after a visit with another mingle member, Cecile, we went and picked out our rings. He flew back home the next day. We both cried at the airport. We knew the separation was going to be hard. We met again in January in Las Vegas for the Mingle Meet, then I flew out to Jim Thorpe, PA in February for Valentine's Day and again in March for St Patrick's Day. We meet with Gene's priest in February and decided on a fall wedding. Jim Thorpe sits in a little valley surrounded by the Pocono mountains so it's sure to be a beautiful setting. Meanwhile, I have relocated to Jim Thorpe. It was getting a little expensive to keep flying. And we have a lot of work to do to get the house ready and all the plans for the wedding. In keeping with our fairytale romance, we are working on a fairytale theme for the wedding.
We cannot say enough about the wonderful opportunity Catholic Mingle gave us; it has changed our lives. We have met some of the most wonderful people on this site and we will truly miss them when we are gone. Thank you Catholic Mingle!
smpkg1946 & Deacon
We're together, we're happy, and having the time of our live
We first met on February 24, 2006 in VA. After thousands of frequent flyer miles, hours on the cell phone, lots of e-mails, and video chats... later we were married on June 24, 2007, a year after we got engaged. It was the second marriage for both of us.
It was a different and fun wedding full of tears and tons of laughter. Since I volunteered as a Firefighter/EMT, and in keeping with the "different" theme, our get-away limo was a 39' Pierce pumper truck. Our kids, my sister and niece were our bridal party, musicians, singers and entertainers. My husband's older son and best man, gave a very heart-warming toast which touched everyone and brought a lot of laughter as well as tears. Tears of joy, of course. My daughter and Matron of Honor followed and brought on more tears. We did our first dance after that, which brought my husband's parents to tears, as they had never seen him dance. We had taken dance lessons, so our dance (Could I Have This Dance by Anne Murray) looked like we had choreographed it to the music, and I must say, we looked rather dashing. Looking at the video, we could see that our guests were singing along, just as I was, and I found out later that even the wait staff and event coordinator for the hotel were moved to tears in the wings.
All in all, we had a blast. It was our goal to have a fun and different wedding, and that's exactly what everyone was saying as they left the reception. I was still getting e-mail weeks later from our guests saying how much fun they had.
Catholic Mingle, thank you so much for bringing us together (My stepson even made reference to you in his toast). Because of your website, two people's lives have been changed forever. We're together, we're happy, and having the time of our lives.
nightbrd98
It is just the beginning
It all started with a "Catholic Mingle Smile wink" from Gaby. I took a look at her profile not realizing she was from Monterrey, Mexico while I was 1000+ miles away in Phoenix, Arizona. I immediately liked what I saw and responded back with another smile and e-mail. We started to talk here and there through e-mail and instant messaging. I was scheduled to take a cruise with some friends to the Caribbean out of Miami, so we weren't in contact for a couple of weeks. I remember talking to my buddy on the cruise
when he had asked "how my lady life was going". I remember thinking about Gaby in the back of my mind even at that point before we really started
communicating. I got back from the cruise curious to see if Gaby would remember me because we had only communicated a couple of times prior to the
cruise. Well, she did remember me.
One day we were communicating through
instant messaging and she decided to let me see what she looked like through video camera. I was able to see her, but she was not able to see me because I did not have a camera for my computer at that point. Once I saw her at her office, I knew I had to get a camera. I went right out to Best Buy that same day and purchased one so she could see me. Once I got it, we started talking "LIVE" with each other just like we were in the same room. We started talking everyday about everything and we even had one night in which
we talked for 8 hours straight. Even though I was not physically with Gaby, our relationship started to grow and we began developing strong feelings for each other. I had feelings similar to when you have been on a few dates with someone and you could tell there was great potential.
One day we started talking about music and I mentioned how I liked Kenny Rogers. She indicated that he was coming to Monterrey, Mexico and she said if you come to Monterrey that she would buy us tickets. At that moment, a whole series of events started happening in my mind, not just about Kenny Rogers, but the possibility of meeting this wonderful person. I figured what do I have to lose, lets do it, lets go to Monterrey and meet Gaby. She soon started the countdown to my arrival and day by day our feelings grew stronger for each other. She doesn't know this, but I fell in love with her before I saw her in real life.
The day finally arrives for my trip to see Gaby. We had very anxious feelings about seeing each other, not knowing if it would be the
same in real life. I wasn't too worried because I already loved everything about her. The moment we saw each other for real, we hugged and kissed like
we had known each other all of our lives. She showed me everything that Monterrey has to offer and gave me the best 5 days of my life. I met her
wonderful family and enjoyed an authentic Mexican barbecue in my honor. I have memories to last a lifetime. We are very affectionate with each other and both care deeply about the core values of our Lord in the Catholic religion. I am going back to visit once again for New Years 2008 so the
story hasn't ended, it is just the beginning, so stay tuned.
If it wasn't for Catholic Mingle and technology, I would have never met my lovely Gaby.
I encourage all members to give Catholic Mingle a try, you never know what the good Lord will bring us.
kinghaas77 & Gaby
The match is evident
We were married September 7, 2007. We began writing via Catholic Mingles January 29, 2005. We both tried other dating services and local singles events, however, after a few decades of trying all these avenues, Catholic Mingles did the trick. We're both in our mid-50’s, so dating experience for both of us is vast, as this is both our first marriages. Success is knowing who one really wants as a mate. Success is being honest with one self and seeing clearly who the person is so as to really feel comfortable with that individual. You may not like the same music or movies, but if you work well together, day to day, and respect each other the match is evident. Having the same values when it comes to money and situation management is key. We respect each other’s hobbies and tastes though we do not completely share them, but we delight to see the other person happy. Positive spirit is key. Laughing a lot together is key. The wedding was simple, inexpensive, but dignified. We made our own cake, had relatives operate the cameras, had no flowers, and focused on the sacrament not the pomp and expense often associated with weddings. We honeymooned in New England for a simple and quiet few days. Never give up finding that special someone, they do exist. Thank you Catholic Mingles.
Warmandcaring and ArchangelM