DAILY PROMPT: BORN TO BE WITH YOU
Got a soul-mate and/or a best friend? What is it about that person that you love best? Describe them in great detail — leave no important quality out.
I’ve never been totally convinced by this notion of soul mates. Maybe that‘s because I’ve never had one and don’t understand the full glory of it. I’ve loved and been ‘in love’, and the empathy between me and my children is infinitely precious. But can anyone really understand another individual’s soul? From my current perch, it all looks highly unlikely, and distinctly uncomfortable if true.
One of my earlier memories is of hurrying down the footpath on my way to kindergarten, me about four and holding my mother’s hand, the footpath the colour and texture of an old hard tennis court with a fringe of straggly grass. There was nothing unusual about this, except that I suddenly realised at gut level my totally separate and individual selfness: that people could see the outside, but the inside was mine alone, and no one would ever fully understand what it felt like to be inside my head looking out. And what’s more, no one could know what I was thinking unless I told them.
There’s probably nothing unusual about that either. I assume everyone has these mini epiphanies from time to time. But the idea stuck, and for me, it totally precludes the possibility that any two people – except perhaps identical twins – can ever achieve the degree of connection that ‘soul mates’ implies.
And would you want to? That’s the other burning question. Who in their right mind would want another human being wandering around their soul? And if you’re not in your right mind, the prospect’s even more daunting. One of the few comforts, when you’re off your head, is that if you can still smile and nod in the right places, nobody can tell that your brain has been quietly fricasseed with turnips and lashings of ginger beer.
I know what you’re thinking, of course – and not through any intuitive connection: we’re talking soul mates, here, not mind mates. Yep, OK, but still…
Spooky.
helen meikle's scribblefest 
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Dear Helen, You have such a precious inner self! I hope there’s someone there to appreciate you to the full!
Fantastic family, although they’re 500km away.
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“… I suddenly realised at gut level my totally separate and individual selfness: that people could see the outside, but the inside was mine alone, and no one would ever fully understand what it felt like to be inside my head looking out.”
That’s so similar to a moment I had. I wonder, does everybody have that moment?
I’ve always assumed so. Interesting question, though. Perhaps we should suggest it as a writing challenge!
Well, I have, but it wasn’t a happy epiphany.
I’m sorry about that! What happened?
Ohmygoodness, I didn’t mean to sound so dismal! It’s just that it’s the one thing that can make someone feel truly alone. “Alone together” some call it.
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