Soulmates; I bet if I asked 20 people for their definition of a soulmate, I would find that it has a different meaning to each. Yesterday, I had this very conversation with my best friend. What if a soulmate wasn’t just someone who you were madly in love with, but someone you could never imagine life without? Your go to, your support, your #1 fan. The wake up in the middle of the night and do anything for person. Two people who belong together. By this logic, it stands to reason that soulmates do not have to be lovers, but maybe soulmates can be best friends, cousins, siblings, or in this case, brothers.
18 years ago, I met a pair of brothers. They were inseparable and if you wanted to hang out with one, you had to expect the other was coming along too. You never minded though because they complimented each other, grounded each other and they were fun. They remained this way through adult life. They got jobs together and lived together. They shared friends. They shared a life. And then, one day about two months ago, one of them died. It was devastating for everyone who knew him, but not nearly as devastating as it was for his brother. You can not ever imagine life being taken from the person you love and need most. Especially when your life is entirely built around this person and you have never known life without them. B was the older brother. And now, he was gone. T had never lived a single day without him. His entire world was ripped apart, as it would be for anyone in that situation. He had family, and he had friends, but he didn’t have his brother.
Today, I found out T has passed. Little brother and big brother reunited once again. Two months of separation but now eternity together. The way they would have wanted. The way it has always been. Because maybe soulmates can be brothers, and soulmates can’t be kept apart.
Lonely little daisy
swaying in the wind.
Your delicate white petals
look as though they’ve thinned.
Maybe you’ve been crying
or given a small pluck.
A game of “loves me not”
could have changed your luck.
You’re slowly wilting over
and your leans not to the sun.
Your head bows toward darkness,
shamed and not brazen.
I bet you have a story
that’s too sad to tell
a broken stem, a missing leaf
the reasons that you fell.
We’re not so very different
the ones they couldn’t save.
Together now we both stand
alone above his grave.
To BS and TS may you always find yourselves side by side.