It's crazy. It's stupid. It's the word "soulmate."

Blame Katie Holmes, who's insufferable Joey Potter character tossed the word around like band candy.  Or maybe blame James Van Der Beek, who's large foreheaded Dawson decided that word should be said as often as the word "the." 

Or blame the recent Crazy Stupid Love (a movie I actually really like) for building the entire story around the concept of "soulmates."

Blame romantic comedies since the dawn of book and movie (although I primarily blame movies) that believe we have to emphasize that one, and only one person can "complete us. " Fuck.  See?  Even I can't stop referencing rom coms. 

Trust me. I'm not being intentionally glib.  I am downing the usage of this word knowing full well that my nice and lovely hubby qualifies as well, ugh, "the one."

Here's the thing.    Do you think that when Plato wrote the philosophical text The Symposium and presented his theory of soul mates, that he knew it'd been the basis of all modern society's concept of what makes us happy, miserable, and complete or incomplete?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I can't ask the dude since he's long dead.

I'd like to hope he perhaps didn't intend the word to be as overused as a Katy Perry song.    It's an idea, a philosophy, a theory.  Hell, maybe he's flattered we've based our concept of modern romantic love on it.

But for me, sure, the idea is nice.  But to toss the word around so much -- well, it makes the word insignificant.  Annoying.  Worthy of barf factor even more than a pitcher of Long Island Ice Teas.

Do I believe in it?  Well, I'm in love.  I'm married.  I'm planning on staying with the dude forever (knock on wood).  But do I think soul mate is all about just one person in our lives?

Not necessarily.   I think my best friends are also my, cough, well, mates -- in the vein of companionship, closeness, etc.  I also think that a person can fall in love more than once and be happy at different times with different people.  I also think monogamy works for some (like me) and not for others.

I think we've chucked out this word so often that it's lost its meaning.  And I think love in general is too big a concept to render itself to a cheesy word, to quantify it all into one person.