by Glen Brizius

Created on: October 18, 2009   Last Updated: October 21, 2009

I know beyond any doubt that soul mates exist. I've had my share of relationships, some good, some bad, and all but one followed the same pattern: meeting someone for the first time / perhaps being introduced to them, followed by (most likely) a friendship developing, followed by a courting period of escalating feelings of connection and affection. Finally we arrived at love, and became a couple. Notice that I said that was the pattern in all but one of my relationships.

My current girlfriend and I were both raised to have what I'd call old-school morals. There are certain things you do, and and certain things you don't do, along the given timeline. I'm not even talking physically, I mean emotionally. Part of it is probably a self-preservation instinct; placing all of your hopes and dreams in someone else's hands, and trusting them not to drop it... well, normally that requires a great deal of trust. Trust is usually built up over time, through a repeated set of encounters in which the other person proves themselves worthy in smaller ways.

Not so with my current relationship. I really didn't have an opinion on soul mates before I met her. I wasn't out looking for a soul mate. I wasn't even looking for a relationship. I knew this woman in a distant, friend-of-a-friend sort of way, and we started trading emails. To my amazement, over a series of just a few emails it became apparent that, against all odds, she and I were in love. I'm not talking about lust, or puppy love, or infatuation. I'm talking about the deep, all-encompassing love that you normally only experience at the height of a relationship. Yet, we were feeling it now, before even going out on anything resembling a 'date'.

It took me a long time to process that fact. It made no sense at all. She and I had both been raised with strict moral codes; she and I both had been 'stung' by past relationships that progressed too fast and that ended up hurting everyone involved. None of that seemed to matter; no "mental alarms" were buzzing. Despite us both having obvious flaws, in each others eyes, we were perfect, and every second that we weren't around each other became painful to bear.

Eventually we gave into what appeared to be mandated by Fate, and gladly became a couple. That it happened *snap* - just that fast - and that it blew past both our moral barriers, and that it remains to this day a love that is profound, and all forgiving, and patient, despite all that life throws at us....well, I mean, have

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