Samantha sometimes had to pinch herself to remind herself it was real. 34 years ago she had met Jake. 8 years later they had married. Last October they had celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. When Jake had gone off to college two years before Sam they had dated other people, but they both had known. From the first time the ‘lightening bolt’ had struck them in her sophomore year.

She had picked up over the years from her friends that not everyone had what she has. Being married to her ‘ideal’. Some had, but a lot of them had “settled”. Her own sister Ginny had divorced Rudy after 3 years. Not everyone was lucky enough to be married to the person who makes your stomach jump when you look at them. The person who makes your skin tingle for hours after they touch you. When locking eyes with that person physically rocks you.

3 kids and 3 decades later she couldn’t imagine her life turning out any other way. Sure there had been bumps in the road and the scars that life leaves you, but all in all she considered herself the luckiest woman alive. She had seen the effects of not living with your soulmate. Not living with the person who builds you up, but tears you down. A relationship where the sum is greater than the parts.

She had taken for granted that everyone could look across a crowded room like she could at Jake, and have it be just like having sex. The sex itself being out of this world. As they grew older the wrinkles came and a softness that comes with age. But they prided themselves in taking care of themselves for the other person. The feeling that comes with knowing you have the 1 person in the world that makes your life complete.