By the way, since the socks thing came up so prominently...

I have SOLVED the mystery of the "socks disappearing in the dryer" concern.


The answer is, they DON'T disappear in the dryer.

They disappear in the WASHING MACHINE.

A wet sock, can be churned around and stretch out and become elongated like a piece of spaghetti. It will then easily slide right through the water pump of the WASHING MACHINE, with the waste water, and end up in the sewer. No one matches sick up while moving them from the washer to the dryer, so they think the DRYER ate the already missing sock.

There's a good moral lesson there for everyone about what you assume about what you observe.

As for "soul mates," the most charitable answer to how to ACTUALLY find one, is this:

1. Learn about YOURSELF. Grown yourself up of course, but mainly figure out by your knowledge of yourself, what your idea mate needs to be like, in order to BE your ideal mate.

2. Learn how other people express themselves differently than you do, even though they may have identical desires and sensibilities. Combat your own self-blinding prejudices and assumptions this way.

3. Be patient. Don't expect some magic force to cause your ideal mate to fall into your lap. POLITELY invest time in others, until you do find someone.

Try not to date any narcissists. It can tire you out. I should know. I've lived with one. . It's not really a laughing matter. In fact, I feel a large amount of empathy for anyone who's ever dated one.

LOL I am going to print this and tape it on my washing machine door.

P.S. The concept of soul-mate scares me. I don't mind the idea of a good mate, or even a good match, but when someone starts professing they have to find a particular perfect match I want to run because I am feeling I will be locked into some ideal that I can neither grow from or away from with out them going "oh you have changed". Well Duh people do change. Sometimes for the better and sometimes they stagnate and never change and that is pretty miserable.

P.S. The concept of soul-mate scares me. I don't mind the idea of a good mate, or even a good match, but when someone starts professing they have to find a particular perfect match I want to run because I am feeling I will be locked into some ideal that I can neither grow from or away from with out them going "oh you have changed". Well Duh people do change. Sometimes for the better and sometimes they stagnate and never change and that is pretty miserable.
Well said PacificStar48!