We're getting married!

When asked how we met, the answer is it is complicated. I like to think that it took 3 times of meeting. The first was in high school, when I noticed this boy with a pony tail at FRC competitions but I have no recollection of talking to him. While he has no memory of me. Even though I was a Dean's List Finalist and stood on stage all by myself awkwardly. The second was in college, Kenji lived with my Catholic guy friends. Where I frequently hanged out and studied in their apartment. I was oblivious to the crush he had on me. Mostly because I knew he was interested in religious life. So we were friends but really just mutual friends. The third time we met, was on my 29 birthday I went to adoration and mass at the Catholic Newman Center at UW. I was very confused to who the man across the aisle was. With no pony tail, I was contemplating all of mass, wondering if Kenji has a brother that was visiting. Especially knowing that Kenji entered religious life. After mass we chatted and learned that this in fact Kenji and not his brother. That he was taking one class on UW Seattle Campus for the spring quarter. A few weeks later, after daily mass, I was sitting in my office and he swings open the door and very confidently and straight forwardly asks if I would go on a date with him. I hesitated, trying to find any reason to say no. But could not find one. I say yes and then search through my calendar for a day. I was just about to start graduate school at Villanova next month and knew my life was going to get a lot more busy. On April 21st we meet at the arboretum and he has bluebells in one hand and a box of chocolates he molded himself. We hold hand for 90% of our walk. Sweaty and awkward, but our first date was more of two friends catching up on what the last 5 years of life has been filled with and a bunch of hypothetical questions Kenji asked. We sat on a bench and talked, which was a different pace to a girl who has always been on the go. To just sit down and not worry about the next place to be. The date ended with Kenji dropping me off at Newman and with the ball in my court. If I wanted a second date all I had to do was ask. Poor Kenji had to endure Catholic Speed Dating, where we were not the "right" age and ended up in the opposite ends of the dating pool. And us going on a walk that was not specifically a date. As I was away at Villanova he called to just check up on me. On a very comedic phone call were we had about 10 seconds each call before the signal dropped and it was pouring out rain outside, my heart started to warm up. His patience with me is what made me fall in love with him. At the time I questioned God why he would bring Kenji back into my life at a time where balancing everything in life almost seemed impossible. I realized that God was giving me someone to look after me, to challenge me, and to care for me. Back then Kenji still lived in Tacoma and many of our dates he would make the drive to me in Seattle. On December 12th, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Kenji brought me to the Arboretum. I was exhausted from running a retreat, finishing finals, and preparing for the Seattle Catholic Young Adult Christmas Party. We left his car and he opened the trunk with a dozen red roses and a brick of chocolate. We walked the loop and sat down on the same bench. We reflected on our relationship and our time together, and then he got on one knee and he asked me if I would marry him. Later that evening Fr. Nathaniel Maria Mayne gave us a blessing.