After messaging on CatholicMatch for a few weeks, Aaron and I met in the St. Thomas parking lot and walked to Zingerman's Next Door Cafe in Ann Arbor, MI. I remember being surprised and excited that Aaron and I both made and laughed at each other's puns - just in the time it took to walk from the church to get coffee. (I knew we were in for some fun times before even reaching the cafe!) The time flew by as we talked. Side Note: Aaron and I first messaged in early January and then I got very busy. Thankfully no one else snatched him up in the time it took for me to get back to him (two weeks later!) - and he didn't hold it against me! Although he does tease me about it occasionally now... :) For me, that was an early sign that he was a very patient and kind man.

Aaron: After talking about it for some time, Bethany and I took a tour of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo. I had picked up the engagement ring the day before and had planned to propose in the church. On the way there, Bethany asked me "Why are you acting weird?". I was a bit worried about it. Once we got there, we ran into some obstacles. First, we had to have the lights turned on. Then, a maintenance employee yelled at us for being too close to the alter, which was a bit of a mood killer. Finally, that same employee made us leave an hour before the church closed, abruptly ending our tour. After this, we decided to admire the church exterior. "It's so beautiful!" Bethany said. I said "It is beautiful! And you're beautiful! And I have some beautiful for you." and got down on knee with the ring on the front steps of the church. Bethany: We were both looking forward to finally doing self guided tour of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo, OH. So I was a bit surprised when Aaron seemed so anxious about the tour. But as soon as we got there (and had the lights turned on), it was SO lovely to admire the church that we both just got swept up in the beauty of it. We enjoyed praying, seeing if we could figure out who the statues of saints were, and sang a Marian hymn by the alter of Our Lady. I have to give it to Aaron for figuring out a whole new plan on the spot after the maintenance employee kicked us out. The exterior of the church, the spring landscaping, and the gorgeous sunny day made for a very special moment when Aaron surprised me. Some other people driving by honked seeing Aaron get down on one knee, and one guy even pulled over to say "You're awesome, I love you guys!!" Then Aaron asked a mailman to take our picture. He made up for the maintenance man having a bad day. ;)