Shoal Mats and Soul Mates

Minxi used the words "Soul Mates" the other day while we were Skyping over dinner.  It kinda moved me.

When I was a young man, reading new age books and dreaming about women, I thought a soul mate was where it was at, "Find that one."  I said to myself.  "Love her and don't ever quit on her.  That's the way.  A long life of love."   Needless to say, life wasn't really very interested in just handing me a soul mate and I wasn't really ready for one.   

Life is a lot harder than they make out in books, love doubly so.  But when Minxi said, "Soul Mates," actually she said, "Shoal Mats" but I got the point, I agreed at once.  I didn't date for several years before Minxi and I met and I seriously considered joining a monastic community.  I decided that while I don't mind sleeping on a hard mat of eating rough food, I'd really rather not sleep alone.  I'm not a kid anymore though and I knew if I was going to marry it would have to be the real deal; hard work, bill paying, life plan making, love that would last until our bodies quit on us.

She says she wants to be with me until we change to butterflies, her way of saying until we die.  I tell her, if she dies first, I will go on to the monastery and spend my days in service.   I think we will have many years together, but in a way, it kinda doesn't matter.   After all these years, I've found someone who thinks about love and marriage the way I do.  Even though we are a continent apart, we are not alone.  Hopelessly romantic?  Maybe,  after all these years, it's nice to think that I still feel romantic.

Here we are, Soul Mates, or shoal mats, you know, whatever, as long as we are happy together.