I think my ideas about soul mates are somewhat different from the norm. I believe popular usage has somewhat devalued the term and I sometimes hear about people who seem to have soulmates all over the place. For me, a friend is not automatically a soulmate. It really takes a whole lot more than that.

For seconds, I am not sure if a soulmate necessarily has to be someone with whom you are romantically involved. A soulmate could be anything, its even possible to live a lifetime and never even meet your soulmate. Or perhaps just in passing.

I think soulmates exist to help us along in our development. They exist to help us learn the right lessons. But the nature of that lesson could be anything. It may even be that sometimes the reason of meeting your soulmate is that you may lose them again, simply to help you learn how to deal with loss and so will help you grow.