Well the love at first sight thing is something I always want to believe in because I'm a hopeless romantic (and a moron), but truthfully I did not have that reaction with any woman that I developed a love R with (ex wife included). In most cases, the R grew over time and THEN I had the retroactive, sentimental thing.
I don't think I have any soulmates either but Jo describes it prett well. In the sense of having someone who shared the deepest part of my life with over time, then yes I have had some. They have all come and gone though so maybe that's not it.
For the newbies, it's a way to express that deep love/hurt/desire mixture they got when the bomb dropped (or the WAS got when they went down the a road too far with an OP consciously or not). Over time, I think, they begin to see that there can/will be others out there if they want.
