# Maybe Soul Mates Do Exist?



## Lila (May 30, 2014)

I read this article today and could not help but cry. It's about a man with early onset Alzheimer's (he's in his mid 50s) forgot he was married, and fell in love with his wife all over again. But there is more to the story. 

"_It's heartbreaking," Lisa, 54, told CNN. "We've made new memories, but it hurts because I always want to say 'Remember that one time?' I want to reminisce with him, but Peter can't remember anything now, much less what happened 20 years ago."

The couple, who have been married for 12 years, met as neighbors in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Both were married to other partners at the time and busy raising their children, but they forged a friendship and remained close until Peter's family moved to Connecticut.

After nearly a year without contact, the two reconnected when they discovered they were each going through divorces. After just one rendezvous in Harrisburg, the two quickly became inseparable and remained in an eight-year, long-distance relationship until all their children entered college"_

They have been through so much and still remain in love. Makes me want to believe in soulmates..


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## OnTheFly (Mar 12, 2015)

Beautiful story, but for me not evidence of 'soul mates', but of deep abiding love.


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## coquille (May 8, 2018)

That's a touching story. Thanks for sharing. 
I think this story is another reminder that what makes us fall in love with someone is how this person makes us feel, and living their love anew brings out the beauty in this sad disease.


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

It just goes to show, we are _our minds_ and not so much _our shell_.

This does not become evident until the mind goes 'elsewhere', literally or figuratively.

Some people seem to flip and become someone else, some people literally fade away, leaving the shell intact.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

OnTheFly said:


> Beautiful story, but for me not evidence of 'soul mates', but of deep abiding love.





coquille said:


> That's a touching story. Thanks for sharing.
> I think this story is another reminder that what makes us fall in love with someone is how this person makes us feel, and living their love anew brings out the beauty in this sad disease.


We see so many stories of heartbreak, longing and unrequited love, it's easy to lose hope. This story is a reminder that it is not all doom and gloom.


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

There are soul mates, some of them are even same-sex doppelgangers.

I had one, maybe still do.

We are but a combination of traits, of tastes, of sweets, of sourness.
If we are too alike we repel, we soon bore each other.

It is those shared common _needs and wants_ that make us soul mates, the rest is superficial.


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

Lila said:


> We see so many stories of heartbreak, longing and unrequited love, it's easy to lose hope. This story is a reminder that it is not all doom and gloom.


Yes, thank you for this!

Hope is real, her name is _Esperanza_. A once, long ago, Latina GF of mine.

..................................................
TJ-

The Main Stream Media and their political allies make it all doom and gloom.

Turning off the outside world, and not knowing, not seeing this chaos, can become that blessing.

Unfortunately, my eyes, my ears are glued to this spinning (of lies) of the world about us.


_Are Dee-_


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## sokillme (Jun 10, 2016)

Well you have to wonder if meeting each others "soul mate" contributed to each others divorce, just by comparison. I mean their relationship while both were marred had the potential to be an emotional affair, who knows. 

As far as soulmates go. I think emotionally healthy you have a potential to have a few soulmates in your life. All that means is you are amicable person and you have great chemistry with this other person. You have to wonder how many people who get divorce in the beginning felt they found their soulmate.


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## RebuildingMe (Aug 18, 2019)

The cynic in me can’t help but wonder what kind of “friendship” was “forged” while they were still married? Maybe soulmates is not the correct word. Maybe, just maybe, they were affair partners instead.

Apologies @Lila for crapping on her article.


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## Benbutton (Oct 3, 2019)

There are many great matches out there. Being patient and true to one's self and one's feelings will help guide them to a "soulmate". 

My wife is a great example for me, she checks off all of my boxes and we are just so in tune with eachother. However, I do believe there are many women who I could have met along the way that possess the same qualities, she just happened to be the one I found first, the type that I was looking for.


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

Benbutton said:


> There are many great matches out there. Being patient and true to one's self and one's feelings will help guide them to a "soulmate".
> 
> My wife is a great example for me, she checks off all of my boxes and we are just so in tune with eachother. However, I do believe there are many women who I could have met along the way that possess the same qualities, *she just happened *to be the one I found first, the type that I was looking for.


_'Just Happened'_ is that fallacy.

What is, what must be...... is _what will be_.

We are pawns, some comfortable, most not.


_King Brian-_


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

We often feel obliged to find some nice in the saddest of stories.

This is one instance.


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

On the man who succumbed to Alzheimers..

I see his divorce as the beginning or that midpoint in his struggle with bad happenings

For him, there was no escape, no lasting happiness to be had.

He was doomed from the start.

We all are, to some degree.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

sokillme said:


> Well you have to wonder if meeting each others "soul mate" contributed to each others divorce, just by comparison. I mean their relationship while both were marred had the potential to be an emotional affair, who knows.





RebuildingMe said:


> The cynic in me can’t help but wonder what kind of “friendship” was “forged” while they were still married? Maybe soulmates is not the correct word. Maybe, just maybe, they were affair partners instead.


Anything is possible but the way I see it, they kept the relationship alive for 8 years while living apart (long distance), and have been married for 12, the last 3 dealing with Alzheimer's. I would venture to guess that most relationships (regardless of how they may have started) would not have survived that. I think their devotion to each other is admirable and I can't take that away from them. There's is a success.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

SunCMars said:


> Hope is real, her name is _Esperanza_. A once, long ago, Latina GF of mine.


That made me 😂.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

SunCMars said:


> On the man who succumbed to Alzheimers..
> 
> I see his divorce as the beginning or that midpoint in his struggle with bad happenings
> 
> ...


What makes you think that? He escaped and seems to have found happiness with his second wife.


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## SunCMars (Feb 29, 2016)

Lila said:


> What makes you think that? He escaped and seems to have found happiness with his second wife.


Aye, Lass, he did!
Thank Goodness!

.....................................

{deleted}


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## sokillme (Jun 10, 2016)

Lila said:


> Anything is possible but the way I see it, they kept the relationship alive for 8 years while living apart (long distance), and have been married for 12, the last 3 dealing with Alzheimer's. I would venture to guess that most relationships (regardless of how they may have started) would not have survived that. I think their devotion to each other is admirable and I can't take that away from them. There's is a success.


I wonder how their ex's would see it.


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## Enigma32 (Jul 6, 2020)

Man, some of y'all are really cynical lol.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

sokillme said:


> I wonder how their ex's would see it.


It doesn't matter because this story is not about their previous relationships, or their exes feelings, or infidelity, or any other assumptions you can come up with. I also didn't start this thread as an invitation to practice creative writing.

I started this thread in Life After Divorce to show those of us that have actually experienced divorce that their is hope. This is a story about two people who stuck with each other through thick and thin, and they continue to do so through a death sentence. I'm not sure if it's soulmates or something else but it is a beautiful love story. A beautiful love story without a happy ending.


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## DudeInProgress (Jun 10, 2019)

I don’t think so, just a romantic, Disney fantasy.

Unless you want to define soulmate as someone who is highly compatible on a number of levels. Someone you really click with and feel completely connected to. Then sure, but there’s probably more than one of those out there.

just think about how often people feel like they found their soulmate at the beginning of a new relationship, until they break up and end up hating that person. 
And how many adulterous spouses rationalize their betrayal because he/she is the “one“. It’s like I finally found my soulmate, it’s so different than my husband/wife, until it isn’t anymore.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

DudeInProgress said:


> I don’t think so, just a romantic, Disney fantasy.
> 
> Unless you want to define soulmate as someone who is highly compatible on a number of levels. Someone you really click with and feel completely connected to. Then sure, but there’s probably more than one of those out there.
> 
> ...


But these two have been together for 20 years. What i find interesting is that the husband lost his memory of his married life to his wife and then fell in love with her again. He asked her to marry him not realizing she was already his wife.


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## Enigma32 (Jul 6, 2020)

@Lila I for one think there is hope for people out there, if they care to take it. I am divorced and with someone now that I plan to stick with forever. Good things do happen.


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## ccpowerslave (Nov 21, 2020)

Lila said:


> But these two have been together for 20 years. What i find interesting is that the husband lost his memory of his married life to his wife and then fell in love with her again. He asked her to marry him not realizing she was already his wife.


It sounds like a real life version of the film “50 First Dates” featuring Adam Sandler. My wife loves that film.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

ccpowerslave said:


> It sounds like a real life version of the film “50 First Dates” featuring Adam Sandler. My wife loves that film.


Surprisingly i have never watched that movie. Not a big Adam Sandler fan but maybe I need to bite the bullet and watch it this weekend.


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## SpinyNorman (Jan 24, 2018)

I have the impression that a soul mate is someone you are well suited to, but exactly what the threshold for when a person becomes a SM is a mystery to me.


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## 342693 (Mar 2, 2020)

Soul mates exist for some, just not all.


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## GusPolinski (Jan 21, 2014)

Depends on what you mean, IMO.

If you’re talking about two people that just sort of “fit” together due to a high degree of natural compatibility, then sure.

If you’re talking about two people that are “meant to be together” or “destined for each other”, then no. That’s just absurd.


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## Arkansas (Jan 30, 2020)

soul mates do not exist

great story, not soul mates


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## farsidejunky (Mar 19, 2014)

It was obviously something you needed to read, @Lila. If it made a difference to you, that is all that matters.


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## Lila (May 30, 2014)

farsidejunky said:


> It was obviously something you needed to read, @Lila. If it made a difference to you, that is all that matters.


It was such a beautiful story, but it's not something I believe in. It's nice nevertheless. I'm happy for them.


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## ConanHub (Aug 9, 2013)

Amazing attraction that can't be defeated certainly exists.

I told this one a while back but my eyesight has taken a hit in the last few years and I am losing my distance vision.

I don't always like to wear glasses unless I'm driving or at the movies.

Mrs. C and I went to a movie a couple years ago and I went to order a drink and some food in the restaurant section while she used the restroom before our movie started.

I was sitting at a high table, sipping my drink and waiting for my order when I noticed a woman walking toward the restaurant area.

I kept trying to stop looking at her but my attraction for her was unreal and I loved the way she walked and moved 

I was getting embarrassed and about ready to leave when the woman got close enough for my shortsighted eyes to clearly make out.

It was my Mrs.😋


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