You know how they say that everybody has a soulmate somewhere in the world? How some people are lucky enough to find their soulmate in the person that they fall truly, madly in love with? Well sometimes, you may find your soul mate (or in this case: mates), in the childhood friends whom you grew up with through your entire life. I fall into the latter. Growing up in what is known as the most diverse district in Houston, I was lucky enough to develop friendships with some of the most incredible, intelligent, talented and amazing girls I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and have grown to consider them as my soulmates.
What exactly is a soulmate? Well, Webster’s dictionary defines it as either, “a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament” or “a person who strongly resembles another in attitudes or beliefs.” Essentially, this is a best friend. And as the great Mindy Kaling has so effortlessly explained in her hit TV show, The Mindy Project: A best friend isn’t a person. It’s a tier.
And when you’re lucky enough to find that tier of best friends, or in my case, soulmates, you hold onto them forever. Well, 10+ years, at least, and counting. Maintaining a group of friends for that long is a very rare feat, or so I’ve heard, and I’d like to try to analyze why, after knowing each other for so long, we’ve maintained a closeness like no other. How, after conquering the monster that is high school together, although we were we all separated at different high schools and now each attending universities in different CITIES, every time we’re together, it’s like we’re 10 years old again.
"Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing."
-Elie Wiesel
I like to consider my best friends and I to be a real life example among the likes of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, i.e. we’ve known each other for as long as we can remember, we are each wildly different people with our own personalities and interests, we would do absolutely anything to help and support one another and we each have our own struggles and spend months apart, dealing with them all. But when we get together, it’s as if no time has ever passed and nothing else matters but whatever we’re talking about in that moment. I whole-heartedly believe the diversity in our personalities and our wildly different interests in tv-shows, movies and music benefitted our friendship, as we were able to introduce each other to our own interests, our own beliefs and even our own cultural traditions. We were a shining example to each other about how four different cultures and backgrounds could come together and become best friends. Even to the people we knew in elementary and middle school, we’re those five girls that people saw as an example of unity.
Although we may get under each other’s skin, disapprove of the decisions we make regarding the guys in our lives, struggle through family issues and money woes, and everything in between, the bond we formed as children, without a care in the world, has carried us through everything. I know we will continue to love and support each other for as long as we can. In reality, that’s all it takes to find lasting friendships and soulmates -- finding people who love and support you. Finding the friends that respect you and the choices you make in life and want nothing but the best for you, despite your differences. If you look for your soul mate in your future husband or wife, you may never find them. However, if you look into the people who have been in your life forever and who you’ll continue to want in your life because of the positive impact they’ve created for you and the feeling of happiness and nostalgia you feel around them, finding your soulmate wont be a challenge. It’ll be a blessing.
"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow."
-William Shakespeare
