Years ago, when I first met my husband, I remember asking a friend if he believed in “the one.” You know the idea. One person. One perfect match. One soulmate wandering the planet waiting to be found.

His answer surprised me.

“Yes,” he said. “I believe there are many ones.”

At the time, I thought he was dodging the question.

Today, I think it may have been one of the wisest things anyone has ever said to me.

The older I get, the harder it becomes to believe that human connection is that simple. I have loved more than one person in my life. Most people have. Some loves last. Some loves end. Some people are deeply real to us, even if they are not meant to stay forever.

That does not make the love less meaningful.

It just makes life more honest.

I have also been shaped by friendships, family members, mentors, and people who appeared for only a season but left a lasting impression. If soulmates exist, why are we so quick to limit them to romance?

Why couldn’t a soulmate be a best friend? A sibling? A child? A grandparent? A teacher? Someone who enters your life at exactly the right moment and changes it, even if they are not the person who walks beside you forever?

Maybe the mistake is assuming that soulmates are about ownership.

Maybe they are about recognition.

Certain people simply make sense in our lives. They challenge us, support us, teach us, frustrate us, love us, and sometimes force us to become more honest about who we are. Some stay for decades. Some stay for only a chapter.

Both can matter.

My husband and I met online when I was Cherry Cookies and he was Cookie Monster. More than twenty years later, he is still my Cookie Monster.

That relationship matters enormously to me.

But I do not believe honoring one love requires me to pretend no other meaningful connections exist.

Life has taught me that the heart is rarely that limited.

Maybe soulmates are less like a single missing puzzle piece and more like fellow travelers we encounter along the way.

Some we recognize immediately.

Some we understand only later.

Some we keep choosing, day after day, year after year.

And perhaps the real gift is not finding “the one.”

Perhaps it is learning to recognize the ones who shape us, and honoring the ones who stay.