On July 4th, 2022, I moved back to Philly. One of the first things I wanted to do when I arrived was attend a Young Catholic Professionals (YCP) event. I had heard a lot about it because a friend of mine had been interested in opening a chapter in Pittsburgh. So, when they announced a panel event on July 19th at the Philo in Center City, I knew I wanted to attend. I had originally asked a couple of my friends to come with me, but neither of them were available. That did not stop me - I hopped in the car after work and made my way to the city. First, I stopped at St. Patrick’s Church to say a prayer beforehand because YCP had suggested this. I remember very distinctly praying to God to help me meet people at this event. Little did I know what He had in store for me. It took some courage to walk into a room of young adults with no friends, but I was determined. I met two of my now good friends that evening (shoutout to Kaitlin and Sean McCann). After some mingling, they had an interesting discussion on the virtue of patience. An important side note is that my parking meter expired halfway through the discussion. I told myself that if I was not having a good time, I would leave at this point. I decided to extend my parking meter, and I made my way back to the event. At the end of the evening and on my way out, I was swiftly approached by a cute, blonde engineer named “James.” James (that’s what his name tag said, so I called him this for a while) led me into a light-hearted and interesting conversation. He told me he worked at Boeing, and I told him I had just gone skydiving. He told me he had attended Bishop McDevitt High School, and I told him I had attended Lansdale Catholic High School. At the end of our conversation, I handed him a business card because YCP had also suggested that we network. James asked for my number. I remember I left with a grin on my face because I was happy I had met a potential suitor. I was left wanting to know more about James, and I secretly hoped that he would ask to see me again. -Nicole

It was a hot, July summer day. I hadn’t yet made a decision yet on whether or not I would attend the Young Catholic Professionals panel event on the virtue of "Patience" at the Philo in Philadelphia. I wasn’t particularly excited for the event. At the last minute, I decided to go, it would be good to get out. As I walked into the building, I made my way towards the bar in the back, where someone said Hi to me and we struck up conversation. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a beautiful, dark-haired girl in a sleeveless shirt and skirt. She looked like she may not know anyone and I wanted to approach her, but also didn’t want to be rude to the person I was speaking with. Unfortunately, before I could cut the convo short, the announcement was made that the talk was about to begin. As we sat down for the talk, I kept thinking I hoped I would get a chance to catch her before she left that evening, afraid I wouldn’t see her again. Once the talk wrapped up, I asked my friend about approaching her and he told me I should go for it. I took one last sip of my drink and beelined towards hers, with no idea what I was going to say. Something came out of my mouth and we were soon making small talk. After a little while, I asked for her phone number; which she gave me, along with her business card, which I didn’t exactly know how to interpret. When I arrived back at my apartment, I texted her that it was nice meeting her. I figured I would play it cool for the time being as I started to come up with a clever, memorable way to ask her out. - Jim