We're getting married!

Maeve and Calvin’s story began around 8th grade, when Maeve’s dad coached her younger brother Colson’s basketball team. Calvin’s younger brother Carson was on the team, too. That’s when she first noticed Calvin. Fast forward to freshman year at Lake Catholic High School. Maeve and Cal landed in the same cooking class. They became friends, but it wasn’t until the summer before senior year that things heated up. With Maeve’s nudging, Cal stopped playing hard to get and asked her out for their first date at Scooter’s Dawg House. Senior year was a whirlwind of tandem bicycle rides, calculus class flirting, and ice cream dates at King Kone. They fell hard, knowing college would soon pull them apart. Calvin chose Hillsdale College in Michigan to play football, while Maeve, tired of Ohio snow, headed to Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. God’s blessings, they’d later say, led them to schools they loved and experiences they wouldn’t change. They gave long-distance a shot through freshman year and into sophomore year. Between Calvin's football schedule, the long distance while Maeve was in Austria, and the plans for Maeve’s family to move away from Cleveland (not to mention the lack of cars, cash, or time), by early 2019, they had called it off. It was heartbreaking, but both prayed something good would come from it. They stayed loosely connected - random texts and the occasional hometown meetup when life allowed. For three years, they lived separate lives. Calvin graduated from Hillsdale and moved to Washington, D.C., while Maeve finished at Lipscomb and stayed in Nashville. But of course, neither could fully let go. In the summer of 2022, Maeve, back in Cleveland, texted Calvin for a drink. That night changed everything and they admitted they were done being apart. Calvin was moving to D.C. the next day, but with jobs, money, and PTO now at their disposal, they vowed to give it one more shot. They traded weekends between D.C. and Nashville. By early 2023, they were job hunting to close the distance. Maeve landed a gig at Bridgestone HQ in Nashville, and Calvin’s boss in D.C. said, “Go get the girl!” With remote work approved, Calvin packed his 2009 Mercury Mariner with his every possession (even his mattress) and moved to Nashville in September 2023. At last, they were in the same city! Maeve introduced Calvin to her Nashville buddies, and he fit right in. They jumped right in: volunteering at church, grabbing bagels at Crieve Hall Bagel Company, catching concerts, perfecting a Trader Joe’s dinner date, and running half marathons. Two worlds had finally collided! On November 25, 2024, the week of Thanksgiving, Calvin took Maeve to the town square in Chardon, Ohio. Driving through town, he pointed out meaningful spots tied to their relationship. Maeve spotted the ring box in his pocket minutes before he dropped to one knee, but still cried tears of joy. She said yes to her high school sweetheart! Back at Calvin’s family’s house, a surprise party awaited. Maeve’s mom had flown up from Florida, and both families celebrated all that was and is to come!

Let us pray, for God’s blessing to come upon this couple: that as they await the day of their wedding, they will grow in mutual respect and in their love for one another; that through their companionship and prayer together they will prepare themselves rightly and chastely for marriage. We praise you, Lord, for your gentle plan draws together your children, Maeve and Calvin, in love for one another. Strengthen their hearts, so that they will keep faith with each other, please you in all things, and so come to the happiness of celebrating the sacrament of their marriage. We ask this through Christ our Lord.