I have kind of an unconventional idea about soul mates.
Like most people who believe in the concept, I used to think
your soul mate was the person you marry. I still think that can be true, if you’re
lucky enough. However, as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that it isn't
always like that. In fact, I don’t think it’s always romantic.
I believe that you can have more than one. Throughout your
life, you might meet two or three people, even, who just get you. You know those people I am talking about. You probably
have someone in your mind right now. It usually happens like this:
There you were, just meandering through life, minding your
own business, when one day you meet this person who you find yourself laughing
with and having long conversations about everything and nothing. You don’t
really think much about it at first, except that this person really understand
you like no one else ever has before. You can tell this person everything, and
not only will they not judge you, but they get
it. They just get it. And before you know it, you just know that their soul
understands yours.
I've been lucky. I have met some of mine already. In fact, I
believe that my boyfriend is one of mine. But the first one, the one who has
been there with me for years, is Mel. She just gets me. From the first time I
met her, and we laughed and talked together over boyfriends, crushes,
homeschooling, Justin Timberlake, and made way too much noise in the library—and
I just knew that I had never known anyone else like her. No one else will ever
understand the bond we have, so I’m not even going to try to explain it.
Instead, I will just give you one recent example. Last
month, Mel and I decided to commemorate our friendship in a very permanent way.
With white knuckles as we held each other’s hands, we went to a tattoo parlor
and had our ears pierced together, like the badasses that we are (upper ear cartilage, folks. Not for sissies.). Not only did we feel like the baddest
rebels in the world (let us have our moment here), but it was also a pact. It’s
a pact to always be best friends. It’s a sign of all we've gone through and
made it through together. It’s a testimony to our sisterhood, our friendship,
our bond.
There is no one else I’d get a hole punched through my head
for.
Happy birthday, Mary Ellen. I love you!
