How I Met My Soulmate

I remember having a specific void in my being since a young age. This lacking. Deep yearning. In ninth grade it became so articulate with its name and pain, that I physically shook and wept. The deepest longing for my soulmate, so deep that it wrenched the roots of my Soul. This was curious though, because I had never met him, had no idea who he was, what he looked like, or his mannerisms. I carried this void, this shadow with me for many years, doubting the validity of this core-wrenching feeling. Wondering if I would ever find my soulmate or be lost in a world that was never quite whole. The first time we met, I had just started working at the front desk at Cityspa. Every massage therapist and esthetician had been making a point to come introduce themselves, to sit, talk, and get to know one another. When Chase walked through the front door during my shift, he took one look at me and without a single word, shot straight up the stairs to prep his room for his first client that day. Barely a fleeting two second eye contact, no words, no introductions, nothing. Later when a colleague chatted in the lobby where I worked, he came and sat down next to her, having a conversation as though I wasn’t there. No eye-contact. No acknowledgement. Nothing. I couldn’t have been more insulted. What had I done to offend him? We hadn’t even spoken! Thankfully, this aversion didn’t last long. Eventually we began sparse work-related conversations over text and brief encouragements. This led to a playful game of him trying to guess the first initial of my work signature, “rcg” where, as a result, I have now become known as “Roxanne” in his phone contacts list. After bonding over our mutual love of this Police song, he, eventually, worked up the courage to ask me out on our first date. I, after deliberating the ethics of dating a co-worker, eventually, said yes. We found a bowling alley with pool tables, starting numerous games, quibbling over one another’s form and anything else we could tease which transgressed into many more conversations. After the third date, I knew. No hesitation. No reservations. I found him. I rejoiced that Soulmates were in fact, real. At least for me. But for him? I waited for him to say “I love you” first. He almost did once, late one night staring barefoot in the grass at the crescent moon. Almost. But he couldn’t keep his Soul restrained and the words eventually slipped. His body stiffened as he held is breath, hoping I hadn’t heard him while my heart somersaulted in my chest. I affirmed his feelings, asking to enter a full relationship, and perhaps, one day, something more. To this day he still teases me about “taking so long” to find him. He’s got six years on me. I tell him that I can’t help that he was born first. Why did YOU take so long? And so begins our Journey.