The Beginning

I was born into a Catholic family.

I believe the term is "Cradle Catholic."

I am the baby of 5 and am blessed to be a part of a loving family.

Was my life perfect growing up? No.

Are there things I would like to change if I could? Yes.

But they are things I chose.

I was raised Catholic,

but being a Catholic means much more to me today than it ever did.

I truly feel like my life turned around when I met Tom.

I was in my early 20's, going to college, and having fun.

I spent most of my nights going out with my friends after work.

Studying was not number one on my list.

Neither was being in a serious relationship.

Then along came Tommy.

I met Tom at a local bar.

His friend approached me and my friend.

And I remember telling my friend that I wanted the tall one with brown hair.

We hung out that night, but that was it.

Then I continued to see Tom at the bar.

We would sit and chat, play darts, play pool. 

One night we were chatting while he was waiting for a date to show up.

I felt disappointed when she did.

Then one night at the bar I was waiting for a couple of friends.

They didn't show up.

Tom was there with his usual group.

He came up to me and we hung out at the bar.

When it was time to leave, Tom asked me if I wanted to go get coffee.

We went to the Perkins down the street.

We sat for a couple of hours, drinking coffee, and talking about ourselves.

One thing I told Tom was that I was raised Catholic and went to St. Cecilia Church. Tom was also raised Catholic, but didn't go to church weekly anymore.

I had shared that I also had stopped going every week for awhile.

I had moved to Boston after High School and just didn't make it a priority to find a church there. Now that I was back in Ames, I was going to mass again at the church I had gone to most of my life.

That Sunday, I went to the back of the church after Communion.

As I was standing in the back I saw Tom going up to Communion.

Part of me was like "Cool! It's Tom."

The other part of me was like "Oh my gosh! It's Tom."

Why was he at "my" church?

I snuck out.

I didn't want him to see me. I guess I was still uneasy with being in a relationship and I didn't know if he had come because of me.

Our friendship continued for awhile and on January 23, 1993 we had our first date. We went to a restaurant called Lucullan's.

I still have the rose he gave me that night. I guess somehow I knew this was the beginning of something special.

Maybe it's because he brought me roses on our first date.

We continued to date, but I still wasn't sure if I was ready to have a serious relationship.

And on St. Patricks Day I was planning to let Tom know.