Perfect Match Discovering Your Soulmate

The Sun and the Moon IT'S BEEN A LIFETIME SINCE WE LAST MET The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer. Oliver Wendell Holmes You don't find lovejust because you're looking for it, even if you desperately need it. Love comes into your life only when you're ready to accept it, and this requires a certain amount of self-awareness. Even then, sometimes it takes more than a gut feeling to convince yourself that it's actually happening. Love is a confusing business, so it's always a good idea to look for guidance before the sparks begin to fly. People around the world have been consulting professional astrologers for this very reason for millennia. Name any country and you'll be able to find an astrological practice that's used to determine one's romantic and marital prospects and assess a couple's compatibility. What can happen when two people with extremely compatible astrological profiles meet by chance at a time in both their lives when they're ready for love and well suited to love each other? Here's how it went for us. Anistatia:It was the seventeenth of December, 1992. I was throw- ing a Christmas party with another astrologer at my apartment that night. We'd invited loads of people for drinks and a buffet dinner. The trouble was, I couldn't find my caterer anywhere! He hadn't returned my calls for two days. I was completely panicked by noon. At the time I was editing a book about a New York architect and I was at his Greenwich Village office that day, so I asked my client's chief architect (who's also a good friend) if he had any suggestions as to what I could do. He told me his cousin Jared was a starving hotel school student who cooked professionally. I took Jared's phone number and kept my fingers crossed. Jared:It was about 2:30 p.m. when Anistatia called me at the midtown club where I made a weekly appearance as guest chef. Anistatia:I explained that I just needed someone to help me put everything together and serve the food, starting around five-thirty. I'd already spent three days preparing a Southern-style groaning board of Hoppin' John, corn bread, collard greens, and a baked ham. Jared:I remember the conversation went something like this: How many people? Fifty-five. What day? Today! I could hear the panic in her voice and told her not to worry. I'd just finished for the day, so I went straight out the door and hopped into a cab. I got about three blocks before I realized I was still wearing my white chef's coat (which wasn't exactly white after a long hot shift in the kitchen). I'd forgotten to change clothes. Anistatia had asked me to wear black, so I had the driver stop at a clothing store. I bought black pants, a black turtleneck, and changed in the cab on the way to her building. I'd broken my left wrist a few days earlier. When Anistatia opened the door, she didn't even say hello. She just stared at the cast covering my arm from elbow to fingertips. Anistatia:I said, "You can't even open a bottle of wine, much less carve a ham with that cast on, can you?" Jared:I told her I'd just cooked lunch for eighty-five people. Anistatia:When I heard that, I grabbed him by his good arm and dragged him in. Jared:A bunch of people arrived early. Before long the apartment was full of guests and the party was in full swing. Though I spent most of the evening behind the buffet, I tried to keep an eye on Anistatia, in case she needed anything. Anistatia:He was scoping me all night. Jared:I won't deny it. I noticed she was very attractive. Finally, about 1 a.m. we were down to one straggler. I don't know what possessed me, but I threw an arm around his shoulder and said, "Time to go, so we can get this place cleaned up." After we did the disheMiller, Anistatia R. is the author of 'Perfect Match Discovering Your Soulmate', published 2002 under ISBN 9780805211290 and ISBN 0805211292.