Soul mates

What is a soul mate? Some believe a soul mate is the one special individual that each person is meant to find and love. Upon finding them all pieces of your life fall into place leaving only peace, harmony, and happiness to forever reign. This sounds nice and for some it may even be their reality since we all create our own realities based on our perceptions, needs, and desires. My soul mate reality is a bit different. My soul mate can be as cantankerous and as moody as I can be. We bicker more frequently than not and both have large ego's that cause us to debate issues as mundane as socks in the dryer and what to do with the hand me down couch in the basement. The name of the game is to outwit the other and win the argument, ceding means you lose at our house. If this all sounds pretty juvenile to you, congratulations, you must be part of the former soul mate crowd and probably have a more peaceful existence than I do. However, I happen to enjoy my reality because, though we are both infantile and incorrigible at times, we are also learning how to grow up, gain awareness, and live more consciously.  We are constantly using our marriage as a stepping point to build on our own strengths and weaknesses, bring awareness to one another, and grow as individuals. We try hard to fight fair in front our our daughter; when we fail at this we apologize, talk to her, and move on. Often the people who bring out the worst parts of ourselves also help to shed light into all the dark corners of our psyches. It is only then, when we can see ourselves clearly, that we become who we are meant to be. Without my cantankerous soul mate I would not have an adequate supply of ego goading to free my imprisoned soul.