I Found the Other Half of my Orange!

Last week, I received a happy e-mail of congratulations from a friend of mine who is a member of my church in Spain. She signed off her e-mail saying, que seas muy feliz en compañia de tu media naranja--which when translated literally means, "may you be very happy in the company of the other half of your orange". You see, "media naranja" is the Spanish expression for "soul mate". I just love it...the idea that after some (or much) searching, you find that one person whose orange half fits just right with your own.

The very same day that I received that e-mail, Buttercup called me, and she asked me if I believe in soul mates. (My blog buddy and friend, J, wrote her thoughts about soul mates here). In answer to Buttercup's question, I responded, "I do and I don't."

As a single person, it used to drive me crazy when people would tell me that I would just know when I meet my husband-to-be. It just sounded so mystical--as if the trees would blow and I would hear the wind whisper, "He is the one", and I would never question my feelings because, well, I would just know.

I would say that when eSuitor and I started dating, I felt a chemistry with him right off the bat, but it took time before I was pretty certain that he was the one. It was more a process of getting to know him over time, waiting to see if red flags appeared, being pleasantly surprised when they didn't, working through conflict with him, praying about our relationship, and having an abiding sense of peace about our relationship over an extended period of time. After about four months of dating, we told one another that we thought we had found marriage partners in each other, but we didn't get engaged for another six months. We wanted to go through the four seasons together, to see what issues would surface for us over that time, etc. Eventually, we did know, but it wasn't a mystical sense of just knowing as much as an I really love you and want to marry you and feel peace and God's blessing on our relationship kind of knowing.

I view the idea of soul mates the same way. Is Hubs the one man in the world who I was meant to meet and marry? Was our relationship and marriage ordained from the foundations of the earth? I honestly don't really know. I would love to think so, and sometimes I do think so! I do believe that God knew we would marry from the beginning of time, as He is omniscient, but I don't know if our union was preordained.

What I do know is that Hubs is my soul mate in the sense that when we married, we married each other not just mind and body, but body, mind and soul. Therefore, our souls are truly mated for life, bound by our commitment to each other that we made when we took our vows before God and many witnesses (including Buttercup!). So yes, I am married to my soul mate.

Indeed, I have found the other half of my orange!

Photo found here.