Jack: Karen likes to start our story with the day she saw me during Mass at St. Joe's, and the handful of awkward glances we exchanged by the coat closet. I do not like to start there, because it highlights the fact that it took me a long time to be brave enough to talk to her. I like to start our story in April, at a young adult social after mass, when I hit it off with the pretty girl I had seen a few times before. I thought to myself "next week, when I see her again, I'm getting her number." And then she wasn't there next week, or any week for the rest of the spring and summer. She had vanished; I consigned myself to permanent bachelorhood. Wherever we start our story, it starts at St. Joe's in Greenwich Village. I continued going to mass there. One evening, I saw Karen again, walking up to say hello to me. We remembered each other's names. She wanted to know if I was going to the social after. I had not been planning to, but now I was, because maybe permanent bachelorhood wasn't so inevitable. I never got to ask for her number, because she asked for my number under the pretext of sending me information about a swing dancing event she was going to. That was the first of many things I did to impress her. In the course of seeing each other at various other group events, I tried swing dancing, cooked a mac n' cheese for a Friendsgiving, went to an Afrobeat dance class, and on a hike, I held her hand as we walked a trail overlooking a steep drop to the valley floor. The night after that hike, I asked her if she wanted to get ramen, just the two of us. A little over two years later, I feel incredibly blessed to be marrying Karen, and spending the rest of my life with her. Karen: I always start this story thinking about the day that led me to St. Joseph's Church. I had not gone to church on my own in over 5 years. I woke up one day feeling called to go back to mass. I got dressed, and made it to a 6pm Mass in Manhattan. I hopped between churches, until I met my future friend Audrey in the creepy alley outside of a young adult event. She invited me to St. Joe's and sold me on it by saying they do a wine and cheese social. I looked at her like she was crazy; I had to see it for myself. I went to St. Joes wanting to see what was so great about this mass and the community. That was when I saw Jack in the pew in church full of eligible men. I told myself NOPE I'm not here for a man I'm here for God and looked away. After mass, Jack happened to walk side by side with me downstairs to St. Joe's basement. I was freaking out because what were the chances this would happen to me. I don't believe in coincidences or fate, but what happened after really had me wondering if it was fate. Every Sunday I'd run into Jack outside and we would awkwardly walk by each other on the way to the coat rack. We eventually talked in April, and I knew there was something there, but I wasn't looking to date plus I was graduating from grad school with no job prospect and was moving back home to Binghamton. Jack and I barely knew each other, so I didn't tell him, and just figured we would see each other again when I got back. I came back after getting a job in August, but Jack was nowhere to be seen until one day I came to mass early in November. I saw him, we said hello and we remembered each other. I invited him to the social after the mass and told myself I can't lose him again. I asked for his number and invited him to events like Swing and Afrobeat dancing, which I enjoyed, as a way to get to know him and see if he was down. I also invited him to Friendsgiving to see how he'd get along with friends. Later, we went on a hike with two of our friends on New Years Eve. I was super nervous because it had snowed and it was icy on the mountain top, but Jack looked out for me and held my hand. In the evening, driving back into the city, he asked me out. That was the beginning of our love story. The best decision I've made was saying yes to our first date.