We met our sophomore year of college in an English class, but only spoke maybe 10 words to each other that entire semester about how we were both born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A year later, Kevin was still in seminary discerning the priesthood and Melanie had just returned to campus after studying abroad. After a chance meeting and an awkward “Didn’t we have a class together last year?” and, “What was your name again?” conversation, we remained acquaintances for the rest of that school year. Right before final exams in the spring of junior year, Kevin ran into Melanie as she was writing an essay about George Eliot’s “The Mill on the Floss” at the campus cappuccino bar, and asked if she could tell him more about it. One coffee meetup turned into two, which turned into friends keeping in touch over the summer break. Long story short: we started dating that September! Kevin was not in seminary anymore, and no, it was not Melanie that made him leave... although, he will admit that she helped his discernment! We are so grateful for God’s work in our hearts and our relationship over these years. Thank you to all our family and friends for your part in bringing us closer to each other, to God, and to sainthood... and special thanks to George Eliot.

Kevin asked Melanie to be his wife in the church of Saint Charles Borromeo, Melanie’s home parish and where we will say our vows on our wedding day. We had just finished an hour of adoration in front of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and Kevin brought Melanie inside the empty church. He walked her through a photo album he had made containing snapshots of many locations that tell our story: the hallway where we met, the table where we were re-introduced, the cappuccino bar where we had coffee, the taco stand where we had our first date, the path where Kevin asked Melanie to be his girlfriend... to name a few. The last photo was of the inside of the church where we were sitting. Just as Kevin was getting ready to get on his knee, an elderly man shuffled out of the sacristy and started cleaning the altar. We laughed as we waited for him to walk back out, and then Kevin made the big move. It’s pretty obvious what Melanie’s answer was!