They met at Thomas Aquinas College in 2021. A mutual friend knew that Lucas had a bit of a crush on Grace (which Grace was completely unaware of), so she set them up on “dorm dates,” the college’s annual not-so-blind blind date night for students. Through a complicated series of jokes and dares, Grace made Lucas wear a sparkly black disco shirt to match her sparkly black dress. They looked fabulous. After dorm dates, they started talking. Grace worked at the library, and Lucas suddenly started checking out books whenever she was on shift. He was responsible for cleaning the library, and during that time, the circulation desk somehow needed a lot more cleaning. It was November, and each night a group of students went to pray the rosary at a local cemetary for the souls in Purgatory. Lucas invited Grace to come pray with him, and they started going together every night. … and then Lucas was quarantined for Covid. Grace went to visit Lucas outside his window (always at a safe six-foot distance, of course…) in the cold New England December weather every day until he was released. There were exchanges of brownies, guitar serenades, and other sweet nothings. At this point, the window visits had drawn the attention of a signifcant portion of the student body, and everyone thought they were dating. However, they weren’t sure if they were ready for a relationship, so they put it off and stopped spending time together. Over Christmas break, Grace’s brother JohnPaul pieced together some conversations he overheard from his older sisters’ room. He demanded to their mom, “why isn’t Grace dating that Brazilian guy?! I’ll have to go up to her college and fix this.” Mrs. Miller laughed it off and didn’t give it much thought. In late April of 2022, Grace was performing in an orchestra concert and her mom came to watch. JohnPaul insisted on coming as well. Lucas introduced himself to the Millers despite the fact that he wasn’t talking to Grace at the time. Mrs. Miller told Grace, “what a fine young man!” Grace tossed her head and changed the subject. But JohnPaul was busy. He struck up a friendship with Lucas, knowing that if he was spending time with Lucas, it would most likely bring Grace and Lucas together. After JohnPaul left, Grace thanked Lucas for babysitting her annoying younger brother, and the two started talking more and more frequently. Then, Lucas broke his arm. Another mutual friend who used to be a Carmelite postulant called her friends in the convent to ask for prayers. As Grace was praying a novena to St. Joseph to discern her vocation, Lucas asked her out for ice cream. The date was on the day before he was going to have surgery, and she said yes. Even though they ran into about 10 of Lucas’s classmates at the ice cream shop, they had a lot of fun. The next day, after Lucas’s surgery, he picked Grace up from her evening library shift. Since the pain medication from the surgery hadn’t quite worn off, he had to wear sunglasses inside. Within a week, they were dating, and within nine months after that, Lucas proposed on the feast of St. Joseph. They are grateful that the prayers of the Carmelite nuns and St. Joseph brought them together.