On Soulmates

So as the story goes, us mortals were originally combined - four arms, four legs, and two faces, but our power was beginning to scare Zeus so he split us up, and condemned us to spend our lives searching for the other half to complete us.

When I first heard the theory behind soulmates, the romantic in me completely fell for it. What a beautiful thought - you spend your life searching for THE ONE. And imagine what would happen when the two halves did meet... fireworks, sparks, and loads of other chemical reactions, I suppose.

That was the romantic in me. At some point, the realist in me did surface and scoff at the entire theory, but the romantic managed to supress the noise!

Thinking about it realistically... does this actually happen, specially in today's context? The ONE that you end up with - is it because of destiny, or because of a choice you both made based on various factors?

And, is it even possible for a man and woman to be soulmates? I mean, given all the differences between men and women - (somehow all women seem to have the same complaints of men and all men seem to have the same problems of women!) - is it really possible for two people of opposing genders to understand each other at the level that soulmates are expected to?
Hell, the only person I say that about (understands me completely) is my best friend (and vice versa)! And she and I both also simultaneously add that we are also exceptions as far as friends go!!

I think I am quite beginning to like Monica (from FRIENDS)'s POV here* - "You find someone, you're in a relationship, and you work hard at it. Somedays you work a LOT harder (read: When the man is way tooo trying for you! :P), but you get past things!"

*Scoff all you want, but trust me, FRIENDS makes SO much of sense at SO many different levels!