I was doing a residency in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1986. Michele and her family were visiting New York City on vacation from California, so I drove up to see her. We went to all the usual tourist spots, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral. When we went in, I told her my Mom used to say that what-ever you prayed for your first time in a new church would come true. So we got on our knees and said a quick prayer.
Eventually I finished grad school, and because Michele was still in college, we ended up going our seperate ways. Thirteen years later, I looked her up on the internet and sent her a letter. Unbelievably, we were both single and eargerly got back together.
On one weekend when she was flying out to see me in Virginia, I told her my best friend and his wife had invited us up to New York with them for the weekend. We were going to stay with his Mom. When Michele stepped off the plane, I told her that there was a slight change of plans; Paul and Stacy decided to drive up Friday to help his Mom with some work. They were going to meet us in Times Square on Saturday afternoon and we were going to go to a play.
As we were looking for parking in Manhattan, Michele pointed out a building and asked, "Isn’t that the church we went in?". I said it was, and why didn’t we go in? We found a quiet pew and sat down. I asked her if she remembered what she had prayed for the first time we were there, 14 years earlier. She said she thought so. I said I remembered that I prayed that some day we’d get married, and I got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife. Her response: "Are you serious?!", at which point I slipped a beautiful ring on her finger!. We were married in July, almost 17 years to the day that we first met.
Paul and Michele Chmielewski ,
Dunn Loring, VA
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