God-Guided Serendipity and Church Doors: How Mr. Keane Met His Mrs. Keane

God-Guided Serendipity and Church Doors:

How Mr. Keane Met His Mrs. Keane (VF)

While celebrating the holidays with colleagues, family members, and friends at PVI’s staff party at Chantilly National Golf and Country Club, I was delighted when Theology teacher Mr. Keane and his wife, Anne Marie, joined our table. I share a classroom with Mr. Keane and always look forward to seeing him and catching up with him between classes. Though I knew he was a 2011 graduate of PVI and was funny, friendly, and family-oriented, I had no idea of the wonderful story about how he met his wife. As they shared the details with us that evening and how serendipity and God’s guiding hand brought them together, I couldn’t help but think of that famous quote: When one door closes, another opens. You see, while they were each on their own life’s journey traveling and living their seemingly-separate lives, there came a moment when they were both literally standing on opposite sides of the very same church door at the very same time one trying to open the door to enter the church, and the other trying to open the door to exit the church! (VF)

Here’s their unique story:

Ann Marie (AM): Brendan and I happened to work for the same missionary organization after college. Our crossroads intersected for the first time in January 2019 while we were both in Mexico being trained for directing mission trips.

Brendan Keane (BK): It was the last night of this training and I was pretty tired from the late nights of socializing and meeting new people. I wanted a chill night with some guys, and so I asked my buddy, Ben, if he wanted to snag one of the only small tables still available.

AM: My friend, Erin, and I were also pretty tired from socializing. Most of the dinner tables were for 8-10 people, but I saw a friend, Ben, sitting at one of the last few small tables. I had met Ben that week and knew he was easy to talk to and also married, and since neither Erin nor I were looking for any budding romance on this venture, I thought joining Ben would be perfect.

BK: Anne Marie and her friend came up and asked to sit with us, and my boy, Ben, said “Sure!” I was pretty annoyed at him at first, but I got over that quickly when I realized how cute Anne Marie was. As dinner went on I started thinking about making my move...that is, until I found out she was living on the West Coast in Washington State!

AM: The dinner was a bit of a blur for me. I remember the generic missionary small talk and the fact that Brendan had a man bun. After dinner, we both went our separate ways and didn't stay in touch. About nine months later, Labor Day weekend, we both happened to move to Seattle, Washington! I had been moved to be a missionary at a college there and Brendan moved there for graduate school.

AM: The dinner was a bit of a blur for me. I remember the generic missionary small talk and the fact that Brendan had a man bun. After dinner, we both went our separate ways and didn't stay in touch. About nine months later, Labor Day weekend, we both happened to move to Seattle, Washington! I had been moved to be a missionary at a college there and Brendan moved there for graduate school.

BK: It was my first weekend in Seattle and I decided to head over to the church that was across the street from where I lived to pray. There was no one around and I was pulling on one of six front doors of the church. As I was pulling, someone was pushing and coming out. We did that awkward dance and I said "after you."

AM: The first thing I noticed was his man bun, and I asked him if we had met before. After a few minutes we realized that we had met over dinner in Mexico 9 months earlier. Neither of us were quite aware of the door that the Lord had just opened that day.

BK: We kept running into each other at events and parties over the next few months. Each time we would end up talking to each other for hours and something was starting to develop. After a weekend of several of these conversations, it was Monday morning. I remember very clearly that I couldn't stop thinking about her and I was teaching geometry for the second period. I literally stopped class to run over to my desk and text her to get beverages that night.

AM: He took me out to a local Seattle hotspot, Rachel's Ginger Beer. I was so nervous, so much so that when we met up, I gave him a hug and bumped right into his head! I was so embarrassed. All I could think about as he asked to pursue my heart and go on dates was, "I can't believe I just hit him in the head!" We went on a couple of dates after that and quickly realized that our friendship was growing into something special. We made our relationship official. We both felt God inviting us to take this next step, thought we didn't know where it would lead. Fast forward four months and the pandemic begins. We continued to date and get to know each other through a very uncertain time in the world. It became clear to us where God was leading our relationship.

BK: Honestly, I was way more nervous to ask her dad for his permission than I actually was to propose to her. I picked the feast day of the Queenship of Mary to propose. Mary's intercession was a huge part of our story. We met in Mexico at Our Lady of Guadalupe. We bumped into each other at the church on the feast of the Nativity of Mary (and then of course, thanks to Anne Marie, we literally (and physically) bumped into each other again at Rachel’s Ginger Beer!) We also got married on the feast day of Our Lady of Knock. Our blessed Mother guides us to love. She guides us to her Son whose love is poured out for us on the Cross. Mary guided us and attended to every detail of our lives in order to bring us together into a union of love.

AM: We have been married for 2 years now. Jesus and Mary continue to teach us to love each other more deeply every day.