In a world full of stories of princesses getting whisked away by princes, and perfectly crafted Pinterest weddings, the term soul mate is copiously used. Soul mate is frequently used to describe someone tall, dark, and handsome. Someone who serendipitously bumped shoulders with you in a coffee shop, where the two of you instantly knew you had found the one.
I’m the youngest of four daughters, and a self-proclaimed girly girl. Like many girls I picture myself getting married. I picture myself wearing a pretty white dress, dancing under twinkly lights, and being so unbelievably happy and in love with the man that I’m marrying. When the day comes, I 100% want to refer to the man on the other end of the aisle as my soul mate, but whoever the groom is, I can promise that I will have considered the maid of honor my soul mate long before I ever considered him.
The term soul mate is often overlooked to describe anything platonic. It’s been stolen by romantic comedies and used to describe the doting love interest with annoyingly perfect hair, but Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines soul mate as “a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament," and that’s something I will always associate with my best friend.
She’s the one on the other end of the phone, giggling through stories of every first crush, first date, first kiss… the first one I want to tell when fun, new, and exciting things happen. Even more impressively, she’s the one I call after the worst day ever. She knows just what to say and just what to do. She’s been there through the days when I’m feeling a little down for no real reason, and there through what I swore at the time were earth-shattering, life-altering heartbreaks.
She knows exactly when lying in bed, binge watching Grey’s Anatomy with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s is the answer, and she knows when enough time has passed and I need to get up, slap on a killer outfit, and go out with an “it’s his loss anyways” attitude. She’s on my side, standing up for me whenever a guy does me wrong, and there with a gentle “maybe don’t do that again” (but still very much on my side) when I’ve done wrong. Life’s more fun when she’s around. She’s “perfectly suited to me in temperament”, she’s my soul mate.
Somewhere out there is likely a guy, maybe even a tall, dark, and handsome one, who I will one day grace with the term soul mate… To that guy, whoever you are and wherever you are, I’m sure I’ll imagine growing old with you, but when I imagine us in rocking chairs, I’ll always imagine her in the rocking chair on the other side of me too. She was here first; you’re always going to have to share.
And to my best friend and very first soul mate, thank you for everything. Thank you for being there through it all, laughing through the bad decisions and mistakes, and being right there excited with me through the good ones. I’m so excited to get to spend the rest of my life with you, here’s to many more years of a whole lot of fun!
