Monday, September 29, 2014

Tears

What whimsy lines my lover's tears?
What feelings might a woman espy?
Her hopes, her dreams, her thoughts and fears-
what lies behind those dazzling eyes?

Perhaps a heart replete with passion,
fills the eyes in different fashion;
perhaps it stems from hope, or pride,
and joy along that teardrop rides.

And now I see my lover's tears,
her hands to mine she softly steals.
I look at her, and she at me,
Our souls entwined in ecstasy;
and as I kneel and ask her clear
Her eyes reflect what dwells inside...
that love along that teardrop rides!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

She said YES!!!!


So Bud and I took Sweet Lady to a special place today so we could ask her a very important question. We had the ring ready in Bud's pocket and I had a card hidden. We sat her down, had her close her eyes and asked her not to open them until we said so. Bud got down on one knee while I read to her what we had written. When I was done we had her open her eyes. Bud had the ring out for her and presented it to her while he told her how much he loved her; he wanted her to know he was committed to her for better or worse for the rest of his life if she would have him. She started to cry. He put the ring down beside her, told her she could take some time if she needed to. We both hugged her, told her we loved her. She said yes so I sat down in front of her and slid the ring onto her finger. I think I'm more excited now than I was when Bud asked me to marry him. We have no date set or anything like that yet but I'll keep my blog up to date when we do. I still can't believe she said yes....she said YES omg omg omg she said YES!!!!!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Different relationships

When you enter the poly world it's easy to get caught up in comparing relationships. We are so used to the model of monogamy as to how relationships can work that our minds can get stuck in searching for that even when we know we're in a poly relationship. We see how others within our poly circle relate to one another and we automatically want *that* kind of relationship. Even worse we begin to feel like our relationship with the same person isn't working because it isn't like that relationship over there.

I got caught up in that very thing early on in the poly process. I saw the passionate, extended love making sessions and all night snuggling that Bud and Sweet Lady would engage in. I was consumed with feeling like I wasn't good enough or being treated the same as her. After all when Bud, and I had sex it was always the same, it was considerably shorter and I was lucky if I could get a few minutes of snuggling with him. Usually he just went back to his side of the bed, rolled over and went to sleep. He certainly wasn't keeping me wrapped tightly in his arms all night long, kissing my forehead, whispering in my ear or smiling contently in his sleep like he did with Sweet Lady.

At first I really struggled with this. I was happy on the outside for them but on the inside I was wondering what was wrong with me. Once I was able to step back and look at it from a logical viewpoint instead of an emotional one I finally understood. I didn't have this with Bud because our relationship had evolved into something else over time. We did do those things when our relationship was new. It was that newly found love and bonding that had kept us together long enough to get to a point of being comfortable with one another. We no longer needed those things with each other because the bond was already there. Bud and Sweet Lady still need that foundation to build on. If they build their relationship without a solid foundation it will teeter and fall. I need to step back and let them build it. Even more important than taking a step back is making sure they both feel loved and supported in the process.

When I began to look at it in this way I was able to understand that Bud and Sweet Lady were bonding the way he and I had in the beginning. You see Bud is not a talker. He never has been. His way of showing he cares is very private. He allows you into his heart by keeping you physically close to his heart ie all night snuggling sessions and making you feel good through sex. Which right now for him is HUGE because sex is always excruciatingly painful for him with the back issues he's having. He's putting himself out there and suffering in order to make us feel loved. Granted it may not be exactly what we want when we want it but he's making an effort in the best way he knows how.Sometimes when we love a person we have to step outside our own thought bubble of the right way to do things and see if the way in front of us was actually the right way all along.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Our Bud is hurting

Bud has been having horrible back pain for a while. He's really struggling right now and it's so hard to see. Sweet Lady and I have talked about it a few times. We both agree our focus needs to shift to what is best for him right now until we get him through this.

Things between Sweet Lady and I are wonderful. I'm so glad I stuck it out in the beginning when feelings were all new and surprising. If I had let the negative garbage in my head win I would be missing out on having a woman who is amazing beyond words as part of my life.

This blog post is going to be a short one. Kiddos are getting ready for school. I'm also freezing! Need to get dressed. Fall is here in Vermont. The leaves are changing color, nights are getting cold and everything pumpkin has arrived in stores. Mmmmm pumpkin...maybe that will be my next blog post.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Hold back or open up

When we have some specified thing that is a deal breaker for us-it's usually a good sign we need to do some hefty considering about that thing because; while it could be a simple, healthy boundary,there is a high risk that it's actually not. That it is in fact a place where we are holding ourselves back from fully opening up.This is an issue I had to look at not long ago and examine my own feelings, intentions, wishes about.

I'm not sure exactly how it all started but my first memory of it being something I thought about or had any feelings on was during a late night cuddle session between me, Bud and Sweet Lady. I only remember hearing him tell her they would make cute babies together. The two of them were wrapped up in each others' arms in post sex glow while I was laying holding Sweet Lady's hand, half asleep next to them. It was late so I think I may have fallen asleep shortly after hearing it. I honestly don't recall any other details since it was a while ago. It sure did get my brain thinking over the next few weeks.

I approached Bud about the idea of them having a baby together. I told him I was very opposed to the idea. His only children in this world were with me. I wanted to keep it that way. I had already shared so much of him with Sweet Lady that I felt as if I needed to keep this one piece of him as mine and mine only. As soon as the words left my mouth so my ears could hear them, I felt horrible. Somehow it didn't sound so bad when it was only thoughts.

They are both my partners, hopefully life long partners. The other piece of that is; if one of my partners did want to have a child with someone else, it's not my place to hold my partner back. There's a point in poly where we are forced to face ourselves in a mirror and consider just exactly how polyamorous we are willing to be. I use that word in the strictest sense of multiple-loves.

Because love isn't limited.

If we aren't willing to allow full and complete loving relationships, are we really polyamorous or are we maybe something more like polykinky or polyaffectionate or something? Not that we need to create new terminology-but that we need to dig deeper into our own selves and identify what it is that we really are accepting of. Because if we aren't accepting of our partners earning the same privileges with other partners as they earned with us-then we are playing a favorites game and that isn't loving...

I've been Sweet Lady's biggest advocate in being sure she is treated as an equal partner, as a co-primary, not a secondary in any sense of the word. In my own mind I was being ethical and fair in my relationships when in reality I was behaving very selfishly. I was letting jealousy and possessiveness rule my emotions there by putting my partners in a position of having to choose to behave how I wanted. I wasn't allowing them the freedom to be themselves or make their own decisions about their relationships. Even worse I was the one keeping Sweet Lady in secondary status. I was the one taking things away from her. Realizing this was heart breaking for me.

Here is this beautiful, kind, giving, loving woman who has bent over backwards to make sure I felt loved by her. She's become a second mom to my own children. She has fully accepted all of our craziness without complaint or an expression of second thoughts. She will never be able to be Bud's wife because I already have that title and laws don't allow her the same status. Now I was using my own emotional garbage to keep her and Bud from sharing the one last thing left for them to show each other and the world the love they share, a child together, by telling Bud he couldn't do it.

I have since come full circle in my feelings on the idea of them someday having a child of their own. Whether they do or not is up to them.But it will be something I fully support if they do decide to. After working through my own stuff I've been able to come to a place of being happy for them if they do (maybe even secretly excited about the possibility). But Shhhhhh don't tell them because it is their choice after all, not mine.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Sitting in the kitchen

Last night our lovely lady spent the night at her own house. We missed her horribly. Bud and I did spend the night snuggled up following one another across the bed so that was nice. It was still odd not having her here. I woke up a few times checking to see if she had come over.

This morning she came over after all of the kids headed off to school. It was nice to see her sitting at the table when I came downstairs from the shower. She had Little Dude (Bud and my 3 yr old son) on her lap. He absolutely adores her! He plays with her, laughs with her, talks to her, holds her hand, hugs her, tells her he loves her. She fits in so well with every aspect of our life. It's as if she was always meant to be here and finally came home.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go get my tattoo on my hand. I'm so excited to have it done. Also a little nervous about how much it will hurt. I've had tattoos done across my chest so I imagine the top of my hand won't really be that bad. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I'll post a pic of it after I get home.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Being a triad is hard work

First and foremost I have to start this blog post with a huge thank you to Sweet Lady. She brings something into this relationship that is so amazing. I'm not sure words will be able to accurately describe it. I'll try my best to convey how perfectly she fits into the family.

A few nights ago we all had a sit down conversation about equality, primaries, co-primaries, secondaries, jealousy, feeling like a third wheel, time together, displays of affection with each other etc. Before the sit down Sweet Lady and I had talked one on one about it. She told me some observations and thoughts she had about our relationship with Bud. I wasn't sure if she was right but it made sense so I didn't discount it in any way.

Then Bud was acting a bit strangely the next night when we were all in bed. He said it was because of his back pain. He does have a lot of back pain but I had a feeling there was more to it than that. He sent me some text messages sounding as if he was bothered by the relationship I was developing with her. The following day his mood was off with me. I couldn't pinpoint anything that happened that day to change his mood so I wondered if it was carrying over from the previous night. We had a very uncomfortable evening/night because of it.

I had not yet said anything to Sweet Lady about any of it. She was trying really hard to be close to me. I had so much swirling around in my head that I was trying to keep quiet so it could work itself out that I was afraid to be close to her for fear I would upset Bud again. I ended up being very mean to both of them and put us all in a really uncomfortable place. I felt so bad as soon as the words were out of my mouth. There was no taking them back unfortunately. Now I have to try to repair the damage caused by my outburst.

I'm still amazed that Sweet Lady knew exactly what was bothering him. She has a connection with him that is different than mine. At one point she worried about being a third wheel, about not being a full part of this relationship because she was the outsider coming into an established relationship. She is far from an outsider. It's so apparent that we are meant to be together. There is no way all the things that happened to allow us to be together were a coincidence. I only hope we can make it right and figure this out moving forward.

Friday, September 12, 2014

My song to both of my loves...


I love you please go away

So the night before last I had a bit of a temper tantrum while we were in bed together. We'd all gone to sleep then woke up in the middle of the night. In our groggy half awake state my partners started getting touchy with one another. Normally this would be fine. I may choose to watch, participate or roll over and go back to sleep. None of those three options is better or worse. We all just let things happen usually. There has been some discussions in the past about things one or more of us felt uncomfortable or unsure about to make certain we're all on the same page.

One of those discussions has been around the fact that I initiate lots with our girl and she seemed either withdrawn or reluctant to give back or meet me in the middle when it comes to adult time between us girls. Up to this point she had never stopped me or said no so I figured she was still feeling shy. She had said she was feeling shy because it had been many years since she was intimate with a woman. She had been in a 14 year mono marriage with a man. She also wanted to be sure of her feelings for me before she moved too far because she's not the kind of person who has sex just for fun. That's a fair enough response. Definitely something I can give her space and time to figure out.

During this time period our connection was growing, or so I thought. We spent countless hours talking, hanging out together, hugging, holding one another, being there for each other when someone had a bad day etc. She told me daily she loved me. A few nights ago I never imagined I would get the response from her that I did when I tried to initiate adult time. She told me no. It wasn't a casual no. It was a pretty stern no. I backed off, left her alone and went to sleep.

The following night was when I had my temper tantrum. The two of them were getting pretty hot & heavy with each other. I asked them if they could please take it in the extra bedroom. Hubby asked why. I said because it's bothering me to lay here while you two touch each other, I don't want to see it or hear it tonight. He rolled over toward the wall. She laid quietly in the middle. I got up and went downstairs for an hour and a half.

While I was downstairs I wrote out my feelings. I was feeling very confused, hurt, a little envious, overall badly about how I perceived the relationship between her and I to be taking shape. Seeing/hearing them was the last straw for my emotions. I told her I needed clarification once and for all about whether her and I were going to remain friends sharing a love for the same man or if we were going to be lovers as well because I was developing strong feelings for her. If we were going to remain only friends I needed to know so I could protect my own heart.

I ended up going back up to bed. Hubby was sound asleep. She was still awake. She tried to hold me, asking if I wanted to talk. I pulled away, said no. After I'd thought about it for a while I decided she deserved the respect of hearing my feelings directly from me not in an email. So we came downstairs to talk. She told me all of her feelings, her thoughts etc. and I felt horrible for blowing up at them. I'd let things fester for too long until my emotions were too tender to remain rational.

At the end of the conversation she took my face in her hands, looked me in the eyes, told me she loved me and gave me kisses filled with electricity. It was like fireworks.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Each relationship is different

Even when you have a triad like we do each relationship ends up being very very different. I'm still confused about the way our triad seems to be taking shape but I'm trying really hard to just let it happen in whatever manner it's meant to. Our girlfriend seems to have the emotionally charged, deep conversations kind of connection with me. She has the sexual connection with my husband. Actually she just has the sex with him. The sex with me is pretty much non-existent unless boob play is considered sex. It's not how I'm used to a relationship being so I don't have any reference point to compare from to figure out if this is OK or not. Emotionally it doesn't feel ok. I tried addressing it to see what it all means. Right now I feel very left out, confused, hurt, and jealous of the connection he has with her. I can see that sex is an extension of their love for one another. I don't have that with her. My intuition is telling me if we can't get it together and communicate this isn't going to work. That thought is heart breaking.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Letting go of rules

When we first began our journey into the poly world we had rules set up between hubby and I about our own relationship. We felt like we had to protect it at all costs. After all we'd been together longer. Our relationship was more important. My logical mind understood the reasons behind this mindset but my heart despised it. Having this set up felt icky to me. It felt like we were keeping our other relationship from being able to grow and our partner from being allowed to feel like a person.

I asked my husband if we could please drop the rules so we could be free to love one another however it happened naturally. If all 3 of us felt like spending time together we could. If only 2 of us felt like spending time together we could. If any of us felt we wanted or needed more time with someone we could be free to do so without worrying about who's turn it was to be with that person. He agreed so I presented the idea to our girlfriend. She didn't have any objections either. So here we are. We are free from rules, obligations, expectations....we're finally free to be ourselves.....we can love without having to feel like we might upset someone else in the triad. Of course it's still a work in progress. We will inevitably stumble along the way. We're human after all.

It's been so incredibly liberating to feel this free. I lay in bed at night watching my two loves hold one another as they sleep. The looks of happiness, joy, contentment, and love on their faces is so beautiful. I haven't felt this happy in a very long time. 

Moving Along

In my last post I told you about one of the hardest times for me. While that is important to tell you, especially if you're thinking about beginning a similar journey, it's also important to tell you the good things. There is a lot more good than bad so I'm not sure where to start. Hmmm maybe with the night I was going to join hubby and his girlfriend. That was when my world would again change forever.

I was so nervous about joining them! I am bisexual but it had been more than a decade since I'd been intimate with a woman. Maybe it's like riding a bike...once you learn you never forget? Holy crap...I never did learn how to ride a book. What was I going to do? How was I supposed to feel? This was not what my mind and emotions had geared up for. I was still trying to get used to the idea of my husband being intimate with another woman. I was not ready for all of this. Someone stop the train!!! I'm going to sit this ride out, maybe I'll get on the next train to ride.

It felt like I was cheating on him when I touched her. My monogamous mindset couldn't fully accept that I was...that I had done something sexual with a person who wasn't my husband. On top of that I also had feelings for this lovely lady I was spending so much time with. I was beginning to be able to see myself spending a lifetime loving her just as much as I do my husband.

He and I talked in great length about my feelings, my confusion, where my head was at. Being the absolutely amazing wonderful man that he is he told me all of my feelings were OK. He reassured me I had not cheated on him. He was happy for me that I was starting to love her. Just like I was happy for him that he loved her. So onward we move to the next chapter...

Hello World

This is my first post on a blog since becoming involved in a polyamorous relationship. It wasn’t always so. I was my husband’s one and only for 14 years; aside from a couple of brief time periods when he left in order to pursue another woman in a mono fashion before realizing he wanted to be with me and coming back. I knew almost a decade ago that he was not wired to love one woman exclusively for the rest of his life. I presented my thoughts to him a few times over the years to think about. While he agreed, he was also afraid of admitting it to himself, to me, his family, the world, that he needed more than me. Afterall we live in a world that says monogamy is the “right” way to do relationships.

I’m not sure my intellectual mind believes that. Look at the divorce rates to see how well monogamy serves people. It’s apparent that monogamy is not all it’s cracked up to be. How about turning on day time television to see the plethora of shows about cheating spouses and the damage it has caused for many lives. You could search through the yellow pages and find a private investigator to follow your spouse in order to prove their extra-marital affairs beyond a reasonable doubt or look through phone texts, emails, online activity etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on of the ways you could see that monogamy does not work. Ahhh but then the question comes up does polyamory work any better or even at all?

In order to find the answer to that question my husband and I spent countless hours talking about every possible scenario we could think of in an attempt to analyze our feelings if the scenario in question were to happen. I felt fairly confident I could be OK with my husband loving another at the same time he loves me. I’m not a jealous person. I got this!!! I told myself that so much it became second nature. I even believed it to be true. My belief wasn’t meant to trick anyone nor hurt anyone. I really truly thought I would never feel a single twinge of jealousy. Boy oh boy was I in for it when I was finally faced with it. Little did I know reality was waiting in the wings to beat me senseless for having thought that.

There was a stretch of time things rolled along smoothly once hubby had his girlfriend. Until we got to August 13 of this year. I gave him and his girlfriend a hug, said good night to them, and went upstairs to the extra room of our house while they went into the marital bedroom my hubby and I had shared to spend the night together. It wasn’t the first time they had spent the night together. This was to be the night reality was going to jump out of the closet swinging at me with everything it had. And let me tell you reality packed one hell of a punch right to my gut! I spent the entire night awake pacing, drawing, watching tv, writing letters to my hubby, reading online poly forums…doing anything I could think of just to make the damn pain stop. I was desperate for it to just STOP. I still have the letter I wrote to my hubby that night as a reminder of not only where I was but also where I never ever want to be again.

I still struggle to stay out of that place. A place of wanting to do the easy thing. A place of wanting to run away. I love my husband dearly. He is my soul mate. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. But there is still this piece of me that desperately wishes I was enough for him. A part of me that wishes I could wake up one morning with all of this having been a dream and there is no other woman that he loves.

Alas that is not reality. This isn’t a dream. I’m not going to wake up because I’m already awake. There is another woman he loves. She’s not just another woman either. She’s a beautiful, vivacious, kind-hearted, gentle soul who lights up his life in ways I do not and cannot do for him. The love they share deserves to be celebrated even if I’m feeling some days like my world is crashing down around me. So I’m giving them freedom and space to take their relationship in whatever direction suits them.