What does someone who lived in Virginia their whole life and hardly travelled have in common with someone from Pennsylvania who was constantly travelling? There definitely seems to be some divine providence in how Jake and Meredith met. For over a decade, Jake and Meredith have crossed paths in both Virginia and Florida countless times. Almost every single Christmas Jake travelled down to Florida with his family for an extended trip. At those same times, Meredith was also in the same area, which happens to be a very horsey area. Most non-horse people don’t typically go there unless they are going to the Winter Equestrian Festival to spectate or to go to polo. Both Meredith and Jake frequented the same restaurants and shopping centers completely unbeknownst to each of them. Additionally, in Virginia, they also frequented the same restaurants as each other and Meredith and her mom were in Jake’s family’s neighborhood several times when Meredith was younger, and they even toyed with the idea of maybe moving there one day. In fact, just weeks before Jake and Meredith finally met, they happened to be in the same exact restaurant, on the same exact night, at the same exact time (one was leaving when the other arrived). What finally seemed like the moment they would meet, ended up being just another passing by added to the already long list of close encounters. What seems to be a fairytale script has a bit of an odd and anti-climactic twist. Both Jake and Meredith, like many people their age, made use of the Bumble App. They shared many negative feelings towards the premise of the app, as well as what most people using the app were ultimately looking for. Almost on the exact same day that they were each poised to delete the app, they ended up matching with each other. Meredith just happened to be spending a week with her mom in Virginia, so they were within range of each other to match. Something that attracted Jake to Meredith’s profile was the fact that he found it to be so unique and hilarious, especially for his sense of humor. One of the only reasons Meredith liked the app was that it required the girl to make the first move. Anyone who knows Meredith knows she is VERY outgoing and forthcoming, and her frequent motto is, “if you don’t ask, you don’t get!” She explained to Jake what she was looking for, which was in line with what Jake wanted. Jake normally doesn’t like distance relationships, but Meredith in typical fashion convinced him to go on a date and see how things would go, especially since she was going to be in Jake’s area almost every weekend visiting her mom for the foreseeable future. They ended up going on a date at a coffee shop, and that was when they realized how much they had in common and discovered all of their near encounters, etc. The date ended up being 5+ hours long (outside in the sun), which gave Meredith a nice tan and made Jake turn into Larry the Lobster. The rest is history!

As many of you know, Meredith had suffered from the eating disorder (ED), anorexia nervosa, for about 16 years. Over the course of those 16 years, there were several side effects associated with this deadly disease. The brain being in a starved state causes people to act out of character and have lapsed judgement on several fronts. This naturally led to extreme psychological torment and tragically fed into strained relationships with some friends and family. It was no one’s fault, it’s just one of the ugly side effects of the ED. What made matters worse was that this suffering was completely in silence, as hardly anyone knew about this struggle. Meredith masked this ED so well, that most people viewed her as a charming, happy, intelligent, and funny person. Only a select few really picked up on or knew about the ED. It ended up becoming what seemed like a permanent cross to bear until death, which sadly could have been any day based on the severity of the disorder. All of this started to change when Jake came into Meredith’s life because God knew that this suffering had to end. When Meredith first described her ED to Jake, he genuinely thought she was kidding because of how extreme it was. Once he realized it was real, it helped open his eyes to just how much suffering and brokenness there is in the world. At this point, they were in a relationship, so Jake knew he wanted to get Meredith help. It wasn’t going to happen overnight. Jake knew that he needed to chip away at the monster within, piece by piece, so that Meredith would decide on her own that she wanted to enter recovery. At the time, Meredith’s ED was so severe, that she didn’t even want recovery, in fact, she vehemently opposed it. It took almost 2 years of chipping away and Meredith moving to Virginia to be closer to her mom, before she would be ready to try recovery. There was still one more major variable, however. There was a lot of social anxiety around the necessary and drastic bodily changes that would ensue from her body healing and rebuilding itself after 16 years of damage. When the tragic events of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, and we were all forced to stay at home, Jake convinced Meredith to finally give recovery a try since she would be home anyway. During the first consultation, it was required for her to have inpatient residential care due to the severity of her condition. This option was very much not preferred by Meredith. After a second consultation, it was decided that she could do outpatient treatment at home with the help of an eating disorder specialized and accredited dietician, doctor, and therapist, all working together as a team. She began recovery with this plan and had Jake as her main caregiver/support person. Most people in ED recovery tragically relapse several times during the process due to the ugliness and deceptiveness of the disorder. We have been blessed that Meredith has never relapsed during her now 2+ years in recovery. Even though she is in permanent remission mentally, and no longer seriously at risk of a relapse, there is still potentially years remaining in the physical bodily healing that will just need to be waited out. Aside from the recovery itself, there were some other good things that came out of this process. First, Jake and Meredith had to weather a couple of hardships directly relating to this recovery, which made them come out of it stronger in the end. Second, Meredith’s health markers went from being horrible and out of whack to being in normal ranges and stabilized. Finally, Meredith has always known how her body worked, through some prior medical knowledge, but she finally learned WHY her body works, which helped her get closer to God. Meredith hopes to help everyone make peace with food and their bodies and get closer to God in the process. It is devastating to see how most of our country has a broken relationship with any or all 3 of these things. Having made this peace, she has found such freedom.

Meredith was born and raised Jewish. The faith brought up a lot of questions for her that were unable to be answered adequately. Since she was about 8 years old, she always wanted to be Catholic but had no idea why and never really saw it through, it was just a distant feeling. For 95% of her life, she didn’t seriously consider or practice any religion. Over the years, she would constantly have moments in which she felt drawn to Catholicism, including one time when she even purchased a miraculous medal, not knowing what it was. She just knew that it was Mary and represented Catholicism, and she was drawn to it. Ironically, it was in Nordstrom’s of all places …who knew Mary was so en vogue?!?! We believe that this calling and unexplainable act of faith helped to bring about the medically mysterious preservation of Meredith’s life throughout her eating disorder. Despite these moments where she was called to Catholicism, she never really understood the faith nor practiced it until a few years into her relationship with Jake.

Jake was raised in a couple of different faith backgrounds. On the one hand, he had a non-practicing Jewish mother. And on the other hand, he had a father who was exploring his own faith, within Christianity, including some Catholicism, and he shared his experience with his kids as he went along. Later in life, the family lost most of their practicing faith. From middle school on, Jake had virtually no faith at all other than passively believing that God existed. It was just not really talked about or thought about. It wasn’t until college, where Jake’s roommate and friend, Courtner, exposed him to what a more devout Christian life looks like. Jake had very little interest in this at first, but reluctantly went along with some things. Fast forward a few years, and Jake ended up considering himself a lukewarm Christian, but he felt super uncomfortable about it and never wanted to talk about it. He definitely didn’t live it out or practice it in any tangible way up until a few years into his relationship with Meredith.

A few years into Meredith and Jake’s relationship, Jake’s brother Colby went through a bit of a faith journey of his own. He started becoming very devout in an Evangelical type of Christianity, and he chose to share it with everyone in quite an annoying way (LOL). At around the same time, Jake was interested in considering getting more into faith. Meredith didn’t want to investigate any religion outside of Catholicism based on her calling to it. If she was going to bother with going through with this, it might as well be the one she always wanted to look into. All the while, Jake had some struggles with most denominations of Christianity and questions that couldn’t be answered adequately. Fortunately, at this time, Colby had ended up switching into Catholicism after having similar questions to the ones Jake had. Jake, Colby, and Meredith had discussions about this conversion, which ended up answering all their questions and more! They decided to begin the RCIA program to learn more in a non-committal way, and they also started looking into the history of the Church and other things on their own. Over the 9-month span of the RCIA program, there were a lot of aspects of the faith that seemed difficult to live out, but they decided to see it through regardless. Being in the astronautical field of work and having a lifelong fondness of science, Jake had some obvious issues that seemed like they couldn’t be reconciled with religion. Ironically, science actually helped him to learn more about Catholicism and he found out that they could not only exist together, but that they must exist together! Catholicism is where faith and reason meet. You can’t have one without the other. Finally, it makes sense why a random rotating giant rock (Earth), just so happens to be floating around an even larger floating fireball (Sun), in the middle of a relatively infinite black void (space), with some salt and pepper (other stars, planets, and space bodies) sprinkled in. Jake got to a point where he found Catholicism to be true, but he legitimately didn’t want to convert or live it, and he certainly didn’t love it. After all, everything in Jake’s life was “perfect.” Why did he “need” this and why should he want it? Despite those feelings, Jake decided to stick it out through the end of RCIA. He ended up receiving the grace not only to accept, but to TRULY love the Catholic faith! After the straggler Jake caught up to Meredith’s level of faith and understanding, they were both confirmed on the Easter Vigil, 04/16/2022. This date also just so happened to be the same date as when Meredith had her Bat Mitzvah back in 2005 (when she was 13). This seemed like a sign that she brought her faith full circle and completed it. Many people don’t know that Catholicism is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish faith. There is much reverence and respect given to our Jewish brothers and sisters, especially since both Jake and Meredith are ethnically Jewish. Needless to say, both Jake and Meredith are both very devout in their faith now and this promises to comprise a big part of their marriage. I mean, heck, we’re having a Catholic Nuptial Mass, like come on (LOL)!

I don’t handle surprises well and Jake doesn’t like to make big scenes, so with that, I knew all about the proposal beforehand, and it was done following daily Mass after everyone had left. Colby and his girlfriend, Katie were both present to witness the event. Funny enough, Colby wasn’t even “supposed” to be there because he had gone to another parish earlier that day and could have just gone to daily Mass there, but he decided to come to St. John’s. Boy, was he in for quite the surprise! Since he was there, he was able to capture the special moment in pictures. Sorry to have such a tame story for the proposal, but a proposal is just an indicator of greater things to come in the future.

St. Catherine of Siena is Meredith’s patron saint, and her feast day is April 29th, which happens to fall on a Saturday this year (the best day for a wedding!). For those of you who don’t know what a patron saint is, it is a canonized saint that one picks (and the saint also picks them) when being confirmed into the Catholic faith. Among other things, they help guide you and pray for you as you progress along your faith journey and in life. Generally, one will have a patron saint that has some connection or tie with them. In Meredith’s case, St. Catherine of Siena shares a very similar personality and story with her. In addition, St. Catherine of Siena is believed to be the earliest recorded case of anorexia, having lived in the mid 1300s. This further strengthens the bond between them, having experienced the same type of struggles and pains. Having our wedding on her feast day is a special way to honor her and have her always be praying for our marriage. St. Catherine of Siena pray for us!