I told her that I loved her also, and instantaneously, I felt at ease for the first time in weeks.  Both of us were willing to give up our own happiness for the other’s well-being.  It was our mutual selflessness that brought us closer together.

Currently, our relationship is better than ever.  After our talk, we realized that all of those questions that we were asking ourselves were petty distractions.

What kind of relationship were we?  What are our labels?  What do we call ourselves?  The answers were simple: we’re two adults that love one another and neither of us changed; we just became better versions of ourselves.  It was society putting pressure on us to define ourselves, and we didn’t cave in.  We overcame all of it, the obstacles, the pressure, and the arguments.

She’s not my soulmate.  She’s better.  She’s my partner, the one that I fight with and the one I fight for.  She’s my best friend.  She’s my confidante.  She’s there for me no matter what, and I’m there for her.

“Soulmates” are for dreamers that don’t live in the real world.  As alluring as it is to dream, it doesn’t even come close to the real thing.  When you find somebody you connect with on such a visceral level, where you can’t get enough of each other even when you see each other every day, and even when you both drive one another up-the-wall at times, that, to me, is true love.  It’s a rare, wonderful, and beautiful connection.  It’s almost scary the lengths you’ll go through just to make this person happy, because their happiness makes you indescribably overjoyed to see.

It’s not always easy.  It gets real hard sometimes.  That’s the reality of a real relationship.  But if you allow yourself to open up to somebody that makes you love so strongly, and you’re willing to risk making yourself vulnerable, it’s the greatest feeling in the whole world.   It’s a transcendent feeling, and it can overcome any obstacle in its way.