Monday 18 November 2013

Long-Term Reader to Wed

I am delighted to announce that Calvinist Cath is engaged to be married in the spring. I am extra delighted because I have been invited to attend and the church is merely a bus-ride away and thus I will have all the fun of seeing Cath in her wedding dress. Cath dislikes being a centre of attention, so I am hoping that Providence wills her to enjoy it even if for just one day.

Now despite this dislike of the spotlight, Cath gave me permission to announce her pending adieu to the Single Life, and I am glad because her story is very romantic and inspiring and even 19th century. In short, she was minding her own business, working and going to church and not drawing attention to herself, reading and thinking and visiting family and having occasional coffees with me, whose blog she has read since (we think) 2007, when she got a LETTER right out of the blue. The letter was from a young man who had seen her during a visit to her Edinburgh church community, and what Calvinist Cath thought was, "I'm too old for this drama."

However, she wrote back politely, and I would bet the grocery money her letter included Presbyterian theology, and the upshot is that despite her initial reaction of blah, she eventually found herself drawing a sketch of her wedding dress on a paper napkin in Café Rouge until she gave up and I took over.

The moral of this story, on which I think we both, trad-leaning Catholic and trad Presbyterian, can agree, is to trust in the working of Providence.

In case that sentence inspired a massive "yes but", I will point out that Cath has been reading my blog since 2007 and got engaged in 2013, so that is almost six whole years of reading a Singles blog before ceasing to be entirely Single. And I started my blogs in late 2006 (age 35) and got engaged, to the shock of all, in late 2008. So there you go. There is just no telling with Providence. He knows what He is doing, and we don't, so the best policy is to pray and do His will and strive to be a loyal and authentic member of our faith community, no matter how small that community might be.

18 comments:

Nzie said...

Congratulations, Cath!

lauren said...

Congratulations to Cath!

Heather in Toronto said...

How lovely! Congratulations to the happy couple.

Brigid said...

May you have many happy years!

Jackie said...

Huzzah! Best wishes, Cath! :-)

MaryJane said...

I love stories like this! Congrats to Cath!

Aussiegirl in NZ said...

Congratulation to Cath! Such wonderful news :-)
Seraphic Singles have the best "how I met my husband" stories ever

Domestic Diva said...

Thanks for sharing the beautiful story, and best wishes to Calvinist Cath!

Mary said...

Congratulations to Cath! Am so happy and
thrilled for her! God is so good!!

Anonymous said...

Thankyou, ladies, for all your kind wishes! It hardly feels like yesterday when I first started reading Seraphic's blog - not to mention lurking in the comment boxes for all the quality chat! I'd never have seen this happening (and was happily busily occupied enough not to mind!) but I guess the next challenge will be to stay seraphically contented with providence as the next chapter opens up...

PolishTraveler said...

Congratulations, Cath, and best wishes for the future!! Your story sounds absolutely lovely! Is there any chance we could get you to guest-post some more of the details? I absolutely love when seraphic readers write in with their love stories, it's so encouraging! And proves how everybody really does have their unique path in life.

Caelaeno said...

Oh, good for you! I wish you many years of happiness together!

sciencegirl said...

Happy news! Congratulations and many blessings!

MCN Hobbs said...

Congratulations Cath, that's such an inspiring story!

Julia said...

Congratulations to Cath and her fiancé!

Seraphic said...

Nobody could love this story more than I, for I am delighted that there still exist men who can perceive the excellence of a modest, quiet and truly womanly character, one without artifice or worldliness. And I speak as a devotee of the MAC counter and wearer of the brightest, darkest red lipstick in Edinburgh!

Andrea said...

I second the call for a guest post with more details. :-) Congratulations!!

Seraphic said...

I don't think she will do it, though! It's not part of the Hebridean character to tell a wide public one's romantic stories and enthuse about the excellence of one's love. (Robbie Burns was a Lowlander.) Instead of telling the story to her own blog readers, she just sent them over to me!

I could have laid on some super Lucy Maud Montgomery sounding details as it is SUCH a 19th century Presbyterian tale, but I thought I'd better rein in my usual candour out of respect for Cath's island sensibilities!