As our nation and the world is still coming to terms with losing HRH Prince Philip, I find myself wondering how on earth someone copes when their soul mate moves on to the next life without them?
I am a firm believer we all have soulmates who may move through each life with you or they may appear in some lives and wait in others. Our soul mate isn't always our life partner in the sense of our wife or husband, our soul mate can be our closet friend or a member of our family, if your souls are meant to meet, they will.
Every single person we meet has a meaning to your life, it may be so small you do not notice it or it may be so significant it will stay with you forever.
You are walking down a crowded street, lost in thought and a complete stranger catches your eye, not just a you happened to look at someone, a full blown eyes look at each other kind of eye catch. Then they smile, you smile....
That brief moment of a smile exchange may have just changed their world. They may have been having the most horrendous time and that simple smile made them feel appreciated, human.
We never know how much the butterfly effect will come into play.
So what about our soul mates, we meet so many people, how do you know its your soul mate? You may have a 'feeling' you may feel the spark, you may just know? In truth you may never know, we are all different.
I know myself and my husband have had many conversations about what if we had chosen x path rather than the choices we made. For example if he had passed a certain exam in school he would have joined the navy, instead he failed the exam and joined the army (that's simplifying it somewhat but it is just a two minute read blog) but that simple act had a huge consequence on his life choices and how things would play out.
Is it all mapped out for us or can we change the outcomes? That is a question that is way above anything I could ever answer, I have my own beliefs and you will have yours....
But here is our story of fate mapping things out.... (as brief as possible ;0)
We went to separate schools, our schools were due to go on a trip to France together were we would have met...I moved out of the area just before.
We lived within 15 miles of each other so would have frequented the same places growing up.
We both moved to a small town called Beverley at the same time, we both lived there for the same time period...we never bumped into each other.
We both went on with our own lives, then one day I saw an advert to write to soldiers deployed to Kosovo. I dismissed it but couldn't stop thinking about it. A few weeks later I decide I wanted to write and found the original magazine (still on my mams kitchen table, which was not like her to clear it away) I wrote my letter to a chap called Dave Harkness (shout out if anyone knows him).
Turns out they had sacks full of letters, my now husband as visiting Dave's section and put his hand in a sack and pulled out a few letters. We began writing...
3 months of writing later, we met on a blind date. A fortnight later he whisked me to Prague for a break where we both decided we wanted to get married (I knew the night I met him that he was my soul mate) but we were worried people would think it was too soon. Yet when we got back both sets of parents said they were surprised we were not engaged yet.
We got engaged in the August and married the following year.
21 years later.... still happily married with a ever expanding family :0)
Fate had so many times it could have brought us together but it didnt. The time simply must not have been right, we were brought together when we needed to be.
I have since seen Mr D in many past life regressions and have no doubt he is my soul mate. Although he is not overly suited with the occupations I have described him as doing in past lives (but that's a different blog).
When I began writing to Mr D I did not want any kind of romance, I wanted a pen pal. Romance was THE last thing I needed, yet we fell in love via the written word.
If we stop looking so hard and allow fate to do his/her job its surprising what can happen.
Dave Harkness may never know the massive impact he had on our lives, just as you may never know the impact that simple gesture of smiling at someone will have. Every single person we meet or interact with has a influence on our life, we just may not realise.
Go with the flow, we need sadness to appreciate happiness. We need loss to appreciate love. We need life so we can learn and grow in each life. But remember you may not find your soul mate in this life, it doesn't mean they wont be with you, guiding you.
RIP Prince Philip, I know you will be watching over your soul mate until you both meet again.