Soul Mate

It was First Night® Austin, and I was sitting on the street corner waiting for the parade to begin when this couple walked past. What a coincidence! Four hours earlier they sat at the table next to mine in Noodle-Ism: the blind man and his soul mate who was wearing a pink tulle skirt.

What if we traded out the word marry and replaced it with the phrase soul mating? Would there be greater happiness in marriage if in addition to not entering hastily into the union, we were also reminded to choose the best soul mate?

Anam cara is the Celtic version of soul friend. I had the pleasure of reading up on the topic while writing the novel manuscript.

I suppose that agreeing to the existence of soul mates first requires a belief in the soul. What is a soul?

Lately I’ve been researching the literature on embryonic stem cell research, and I decided to revisit a futuristic novel. My son overheard me listening to a tape of Brave New World, at the point where there is a tour of the embryo lab. Grasping that babies were being made in test tubes, he asked, “They wouldn’t have a soul, would they?”

This gave me pause to reflect because I’ve never discussed the topic of a soul with my son. Then again, when my father died I may have had that discussion with my son, the memory of which might be frozen in grief.

“Offer it up for the poor souls.” That’s what my devout grandma used to say when I felt sick, and that’s what she said she was doing when her joints ached.

The concept of a soul gets implanted into our mind at an early age. And then what?

Maybe we think about it again when we read Dante. Maybe we hear about it in church. How many of us consider it when we mate? Fewer than the number that consider astrological compatibility, no doubt.

What of those unions begotten of the soul mate? Can those couples maintain that level of intimacy past a disagreement or an infidelity, or even ten arguments over who is going to take out the trash. Or do they eventually go off in search of the next soul mate if they are so keen on that level of intensity in their relationships?

“A room without a rug is like a kiss without a hug.” That’s how I knew that my daughter could read. We were driving toward Westheimer Avenue in Houston and she read the logo on the rug shop window. When people wed, do they have a happier union if it is with a soul mate? Or is the marriage without the soul mate as cold as winter, eventually?

Here’s what singer-songwriter Darden Smith has to say about staying satisfied.

People get all kinds of advice on mating: when to do it and with whom. Some of it is funny. Some of it is welcome, but most of it is not.

In “Acoustic Memory” Raven is at that mating point in her life. Raven has a list of no-cringe rules for dating. Her best friend has some uptight advice about men to avoid. And her great-aunt stands at the ready with an armamentarium of intellectual advice. And then, against the odds, something magic happens!