I am probably the biggest romantic you will ever find. I believe in fate, true love, perfect moments and all of those warm ideals. I pin wedding ideas when I’m nowhere close to getting married. I swoon at the love tales of seasoned couples. I also believe in soul mates. I don’t, however, believe a soul mate is only the person you marry. I believe your soul mates can be found at the lunch table in high school, on your soccer team, in the dorm room across the hall, over a transcendent cup of coffee in a small cafe. I believe that finding your soul mates in this life is part chemistry, part luck and part magic.
I can safely say that I have over 10 soul mates. They’ve seen me at my worst, and cheered me at my best. They’ve laughed with me and cried for me. They are my insides; I wouldn’t be (couldn’t be) me without them.
Female friendships are incredible. The idea of forming relationships that span decades, that overcome divorce and death, petty drunken fights and explosive arguments–those are the makings of soul mates. To lack that is to lack luster and the very ingredients that make this life so magical. They say to never trust a woman who can’t maintain female friendships, but I don’t mistrust that woman–I pity her. For what kind of life is a life without soul mates?
Over the years, I’ve seen friendships come and go. Some have grown stronger, some have dimmed, some have manifested themselves in situations I never saw coming–but none, none have been regretted. I’ve learned a little from each one of the amazing girls in my life, and I owe each of them a little piece of the person I’ve become to-date.
Who knows who will be by my side in 10, 20, 30 years. I do know one thing, and it is this: the real soul mates in this life aren’t only our one great love (or even the men from our small loves), but the girls you attach yourself to along the way, the ones that become so ingrained in you that you can’t imagine life without them. In the infamous words of Carrie Bradshaw: Maybe our girlfriends are our soul mates, and guys are just people to have fun with.