I am a firm believer in Soulmates. I believe God has that one special person intended just for us. Whether that person is given to us right away or we have to kiss a few frogs first, I know that when our hearts are exactly where God wants them, He gives us our heart’s desire.
The first half of my life, I didn’t know what I wanted. I was still trying to figure things out. And after my parents’ divorce, I did not have the model for seeking a mate laid out before me.
My parents who had five girls, were best friends with the Billingtons who had two boys. When my oldest sister was stricken with a rare bone disease, she died at age eight and Peggy Billington was like a sister to Mama, helping her through her grief. Mama was pregnant with the fourth girl and then two years later I came along. I never knew my sister who died.
It wasn’t easy being the fifth daughter. I got ALL the hand-me-downs, and it seemed I never had a memory that my sisters didn’t live through first. Even the baby photos were scarce by the time I came along.
One thing that was mine, that was just for me, was the man in which God intended. He was a six-month-old baby with the sweetest, angelic lashes that laid across his round cheeks. I was two years old and I loved that baby boy. I wanted to hold him!
I was not a shy little girl, if I wanted something, I thought I had every right to ask for it. So, I asked my Mama’s friend Peggy if I could hold her baby. Peggy was being nice to say, “Honey, he’s sleeping right now,” so I thought that meant when he woke up I could hold that pretty baby.
When she wasn’t looking, I nudged his carrier, trying to get him to wake up, but he slept. I touched him and nudged the carrier again – he still slept. So the only thing I knew to do was to pinch that baby to get him to wake up.
He cried.
I don’t remember anything after that, I was a baby myself – but I made my mark. I wanted to hold that sweet baby and 46 years later, I got to!
My parents had moved from Murray, but we came back to visit my grandparents and I remember my sister and I playing with Jason and his brother when we were kids. In my teen years, my life ended up in Chattanooga.
In our 40s, Jason and I found each other online after both of our lives had traveled down many winding roads. We began talking in emails and dated in Nashville. It was evident that God had put us together. Everything fit. There were no red flags, no square pegs to be forced in a round hole. When God puts something together, it is RIGHT.
Once we were married, and I moved back to my birthplace of Murray, I talked about how I wished my family had never moved and Jason and I had each other in our twenties.
But honestly, it wasn’t time. God had to get our hearts exactly where He wanted them, through many trials and storms throughout our lives.
My wise Hubby said, “…but Baby, we got all the bad stuff out of the way.” He and I both had learned what true Love is and what it is not. We appreciate God’s blessing more now than we ever would have.
I leave you with this thought; if you have a child and you see him or her pinch another child, don’t freak out… they just might be picking out their Soulmate.
