Living Truthfully Within

My pool party was a hit!

I have mostly been talking to Ariel all day because of sick husband, and been checking in, asking if they need anything- she's giving me updates.

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a metamour you get along with.

As far as the pool party, I had 7 people show up which was more than enough because my pool isn't that big and not everyone was swimming. But we had plenty of nibbles, and I really enjoyed myself.

I think everyone did too, and now i'm sunburnt haha. I forgot to do my cheeks. :)

Alright blog will update again soon, now time to paint!
 
You know, philosophical moment here for me.

I have been thinking a lot about how far I've come to regain a sense of equilibrium, and spirituality after Mormonism.

And I kind of attribute Mormonism to taking heroin. Now just for the record I've never taken the stuff myself, but I have heard it described that after the first time, users repeatedly take it to get that first high again. And that the feeling of that first high is amazing.

Leaving Mormonism and trying to find my "purpose" post Mormonism was like that.

It took a long time for me to realise that the high that I had reached with them was an illusion, a drug, like the first heroin hit. And that I'd never achieve that again, not in Mormonism and not out of it.

But also, that I didn't want to either. That taking off those rose-coloured glasses made me appreciate the mundane things in life. The here and now, and the only things which I'm absolutely certain of.

The way the light hits something, as I strive to capture it with the stroke of a paint brush.

The way air motes dance in the sunlight, across my vision, and everything is blurry for a moment as I try to focus in on that tiny collection of dust molecules.

The way fabric feels against my skin when I dig my toes in the end of my bed, trying to warm them at night against the sheet.

The smell of a beautiful fragrant dinner, particularly baking corn bread, as we have a lot of that in NHT- corn that is.

All these small things make me grateful I am alive and ignite inside me a belief in something higher, and I realised I don't need the rituals, or the Mormons, and they could never pay me enough to be part of that religion again.

I also realised in being asked recently to be involved again I was ready to get excommunicated for real- to resign completely from Mormonism and put that chapter firmly behind me.

So I wanted to share that here because it's a big moment for me, and it wouldn't make sense to a lot of people, but I know a few here who can relate.

Not very poly-esque, but I'm happy all the same to share my life- this small little piece of misfortunes, and hiccups, and victories, and hopefully not repeating the same issues ad-nauseum. I hope I'm learning, one little bit at a time.
 
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So I thought of something,

This couple, they are very much do-ers. Pragmatic, mathematical, logical, and with a bit of fun thrown in.

But also..I think maybe a bit too young for me to pursue as a relationship. Not because they aren't mature- they are. I mean all the right boxes are ticked. But I am not able to get past the surface in any of our conversations - so maybe this is just something that happens later, or perhaps there is nothing there to be discovered? Maybe the husband truly has no inner demons he fights off in his head?

Or maybe he just doesn process the world in that way.

I myself, I love to think about things to an extent. I know its only partial because there's processing and then there's nitpicking everything. I expect with this couple they are just very good at living in the moment, and not being too bothered by big picture ideas of esoteric things. Feelings, emotions, etc.

I also like doing. I spent 2 hours painting today, and cleaning house and did a marathon of videos, mostly because I was processing a lot of internal thoughts and needed to do it in bite size chunks. That and I got SERIOUSLY burnt yesterday in the sun, and I needed to stay out of the sun today to recoup, and also I was in a lot of pain..I put on a few layers of aloe vera and I hope it wont peel off.

Anyway...

I'm working on three paintings right now. :) So that's good.

I also am spending a lot of time with my social network, I am booked up till next Monday every evening, and weekend on day time too! :O

I'm trying to let this just be and not force it.

I did confirm the date night with Ariel for Friday, we're going to a local gardens :) And I really enjoy her company, we have a lot to talk about and conversation seems to flow more naturally.

Landon is slowly getting over his illness, but it'll be a few days before we evene talk of planning again. I mean between my crazy schedule and him being...distant anyway, I am happy to let the chips just fall where they will. I wont chase him down, he knows I am interested and where my phone number is. Either he's interested or not.

Either way, I had to have an indoor day, and I was dehydrated and lethargic from the heat the day before.
 
I worry they aren't that interested and then they go invite me on a road trip...!


We're taking a car packing our bags and hitting the beach.

Also 1 of my three paintings is 98% complete.

It just, sort of came out of me- in 8 hours! it's the fastest painting ive done in a while, and I just cant stop painting. :O

I don't know how i'm going to manage everything because i'm booked up till sunday, and I just want to paint all the time..It's like an obsession...

I am SO glad my love of art has returned. I just needed some time to let the anger and sadness and pain heal and move forward.

I don't really paint moody paintings so I was unable to paint at all from a place of anger and sadness. I do mostly happy paintings because art for me has always been my place of joy. So far I have a tea cup painting, from the perspective of someone sitting at a coffee shop holding the tea cup and looking down at the table (With flowers), the next is a commission for an author, and third is the one I did in 8 hours (Probably 10 in total now), over 3 days, and is a sunset painting with beautiful sky and clouds in multi colours. I love it.

Gosh I just cant get over how very grateful I am for being well-balanced hormonally / emotionally again. Between vitamin d3, this supplements, the therapy I did for a year, I just feel..very whole and even keel now. :)

And now that i'm not slogging through all these emotionals and thoughts, I've got so much energy to devote toe friends, family, and artwork and life.

Thank you for everyone on here who reached out in my darkpoint back at December, it really helped me back off that edge.
 
I am not accustomed to needing to explain or justify myself anymore to anyone, and my landlord is one of those annoyingly chauvinistic men who actually spent a half an hour lecturing at me about what I can and cannot do here in New Home Town. And worse... (based on his perspective) he prefaced the whole thing with "And I don't mean to be chauvinistic..."

If it weren't for the fact that our family is renting from him, and my current "in" to the gallery is from him I would have politely told him to fuck off. :cool: But one of the things about being an adult apparently is knowing when to pick a battle and when to let it go.

Interspersed in that conversation was also alluding to the fact he was interested in me, and out right lied that about his age- easy for him to do as he's on Zero social media or online presence.
But I'll eat my purse if he's actually 20 years younger than the guests who come by who are all clients of his. Yeah right, there's no way they are in their 80's and if this guy isn't already 60, he will be in the next year or two. And the assumption that I would be interested in him at all- that this sort of behaviour would fly? Really gets under my skin. (And no I am not ageist, I just can't be with older men specifically because of my childhood experience)

He's only thinking he can get away with this crap because he saw me with Landon the other day, and probably heard us too, while I was being intimate. But just because I have casual sex, doesn't mean I'm going to casually have it with him.

I'm going to have to brain storm and practice some appropriate witty comebacks to stop his rants on what I can and cannot do (motorcycling, anything DIY, getting too close to birds (???), being out in the heat too long because Oh my I'm just too delicate female person.:rolleyes: - the list goes on and on his very outrageous and annoying opinions of me. He doesn't fucking know me, and I'm only corroborating this by my silence so I must think of ways to politely and firmly tell him this without making the situation more tenuous /disruptive for my family who rents from him.) And yes I have told him: You don't know the first thing about me, so please stop.

Yeah fuck that shit.
 
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Rocky is still a big hangup for me here in NHT. I have been dating, and seeing people but yet he still holds on to me when I don't want him and runs away when I do.

The only thing for me to do is to be very distant now I guess. I mean I was re-reading through my blog and wow, his flip-flopping and my utter devotion that was undeserved caused a LOT of heartache, and I missed out on some pretty fantastic people because I wasn't able to be emotionally available. And now he's *Stringing me along* again and it's my fault for allowing it.

What is this magical connection he has over me? do I still hang on to the myth of the one and only and attributed that to him?

I don't want to be pining after him for years on end.

I want to let him go now because he gives me less than I deserve. I am still not a face book friend, I am still not acknowledged in his social circles and life, I am still a dirty secret. Fuck that shit.

And worse, I allowed myself to get in an almost similar situation if I hadn't stepped up and said no i'm not ok with this (in a kind way) to myself and LAndon we may very well have caused each other similar damage because neither one of us WANT a secret relationship with others.

So I would have perpetuated the very thing that caused me so much pain for the last few years. I need to own my part in this and change it!

I need to let Rocky go, and I need to do that by distancing myself form him emotionally. Of course he misses me and wants me when I am not a real option, when i'm halfway around the world. I realise its not done malevolently, I know he's not trying ot be controlling he just needs to get help for his obvious indecision. But I am not going to put my whole romantic life and my heart on hold for anoher year for him. I did that for 3 years now. And for what?

For what reason?

It's utter madness, he may be kind and loving and generous in so many ways, but I need more than what he can give. I need the social acknowledgement of being a friend and decent human being. Even landon gives me that more than Rocky ever did, and I've barely known the dude. He posts on my FB I've been to his house, we talk about issues, etc. I guess that's why Landon is married and Rocky isn't. And expecting Rocky to be marriageable material (at least in relation to me) when his behaviour clearly states the opposite over 3 years knowing him,...well that's just madness on my part. Men are not lassoed objects you manage to corral into a pen.

Rocky is STILL a peter pan, and i'm getting out of a Neverland now.​
 
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So yesterdays meetup with Ariel was perfect. :) We spent time wandering around a few local haunts and playing boardgames. It was basically very chill and wonderful.

We only briefly mentioned the "ending" and more in a "this worked very nicely to segue into friendship and feels very natural"

I invited both to my home in the future to toss a ball around to all the fur babies, theirs and mine, and have the fur babies cool off in the summer here in the pool. I have a lot of space on this ranch house- and I want to make sure Landon knows I think he's a priority as a friend just as much a before, even if taking sex out. He doesn't have a lot of friends and could use them more than lovers at this point in time I think. And that's probably true of me too.

I have a coffee date on Sunday with a new okc person. No names because although we been talking awhile, I don't think it'll go past friendship. And I'm ok with that. More friends the merrier.

Today is another social outing with a group of mixed people from a meetup. It's a pool party, then I asked a local lady who I met at the women's group out just me and her to a local American style "pub". So that's awesome. :)
Should be good! Another busy day in the life of Star.
 
Today was a really surprising day, with a lot of different events and things happening.

First of all I am pre-period by a day or so, but because of the new pills I've been taking I've been ablet o do SO much that normally I'd be in a tailspin/sleeping/weird moods.

I got up early, I did art, I spent itme with family...

Then I went out to the pool party with local ladies.

Because all of us had been in a pool party for 6 hours in the sun, and we were all wiped out and rescheduled the pub meet up tonight.

It was a really fantastic time, and I was relaxing and fun and good conversation. I got to spend time with Ariel again, and she asked me to put lotion all over her body......:D That was surprising and I tried not to read into it anymore than she trusted me, which made me feel very warm and happy. but wow she was so cute in her two piece outfit...Be good Star be good. Ahem.

So...
I rescheduled with one lady who couldn't make the pool party for tomorrow coffee just me and her.

I also cancelled the OKC date for tomorrow after he drunk texted me last night at a work party soliciting sex after I had made it clear I only want to meet as a friendly meet up on Sunday. It was very crass behaviour, he was saying things like "Come belly dance on my lap", and "I bet you like to grind against me like the men and women here." And begging if I could come out last night and grind against him. Eventually I had to turn my phone off.

I lost a bit of respect there, since he hadn't met me yet and I had made it very clear where I stood prior to that. He didn't even have the decency to apologise the next day. So yeah not meeting him, and certainly don't need that sort of disrespect. If I had been interested in someone that way those comments wouldn't have been an issue, but, in this case it really was. I felt like I could have been any woman, and object, a piece of meat. It wasn't a nice feeling. I need to figure out how to block someone who knows your phone?

In other interesting news today:

Just as I wrote out a long email draft to Rocky to send, I got a long post from him on FB today (of all places!) saying how he found a middle ground by friending and sharing my public profile page. Overnight upping it from 400-500likes and garnishing possible commissions.

Being bought for love? Probably. Or we have different love languages, or he finally heard my complaints. It's not...what I wanted but its a compromise, and I'm most certainly known to his social circle if not as a lover as someone important to him.

So...I'm a bit at a conundrum on how to proceed it feels a bit excessive to cut him out now or do a fade. Maybe time and distance will simply allow us to move into friends.

Gah being a public figure is very frustrating..i am not VERY well known but it still means that my behaviour has to be...monitored all the time. As I do more and more public things, events, speaking, people, etc, the more I feel "on" like on stage and stuff, and I suppose its great for my business, but..who am I turning into? Is there a way to be public and not turn into someone I dislike? My morals, ethics, and desire to have money and make a career are at odds with each other right now :S

Being and artist is different to being a businesswoman and sometimes those things clash.

Right now i'm missing the simplicity of being ...just another person. Being a leader also makes me "other" in social groups. It's why I've never truly come all the way out with poly, and although I did let a lot of my social groups know in the past, I haven't ever made it known here in New Home Town, and i'm on the fence on what direction to take my love life or if to ever go there at all with my public life. I have been debating a lot over the last two weeks to swing one of two ways, to go completely public here, and show my art regardless (And not because of like I don't care about that but more because I want to be more authentically me here), or to take the whole page down all together.

I know artists get more of a license to be ...quirky in their choices, but I have already paid dearly for the cost of being me, wih my kids with their dad and its made me gun shy now. I don't want it to stop me from having my career and I have a lot of conservative clients and followers, and they are the repeat and highest paying ones.

So. There's that.

I guess I will just keep tossing it around in my brain until I make a decision. But it's nice to write it out here, and just..think about it some more.
 
Just as I wrote out a long email draft to Rocky to send, I got a long post from him on FB today (of all places!) saying how he found a middle ground by friending and sharing my public profile page. Overnight upping it from 400-500likes and garnishing possible commissions.

...

Gah being a public figure is very frustrating..i am not VERY well known but it still means that my behaviour has to be...monitored all the time. As I do more and more public things, events, speaking, people, etc, the more I feel "on" like on stage and stuff, and I suppose its great for my business, but..who am I turning into? Is there a way to be public and not turn into someone I dislike? My morals, ethics, and desire to have money and make a career are at odds with each other right now :S.

Congratulations on the muse striking once again! I'm in artistic fields, too. I can relate. Also about the business and realizing our behavior may come back to bite us.

Are you already doing some speaking in your new place? What are you speaking about?

How do you feel your morals are at odds with your desire to have a career?

I know artists get more of a license to be ...quirky in their choices, but I have already paid dearly for the cost of being me, wih my kids with their dad and its made me gun shy now. I don't want it to stop me from having my career and I have a lot of conservative clients and followers, and they are the repeat and highest paying ones.

I don't think you can compare family/divorce/kids to clients. What we do impacts our children far more than it impacts our clients. As parents, we have every right and even a duty, to consider what our children are seeing, being taught, being exposed to, etc. And this is a separate issue from whether your ex or any judge is right or wrong about poly in particular. I'm just saying, it's a completely different situation from clients.

I really believe most clients don't care too much about the personal life of the artist who painted a picture they love. I suspect most of them don't care at all. If you're respectful of them and the world around you, 99.9% of them are going to react with near indifference to finding out you have two boyfriends or whatever.
 
Hey WhatHappened,
Thanks for your comment :D

Yes I know the muse, its so elusive and when it happens you have to roll with it haha. I do my best to do the work regardless of the muse..but when the stars align its like you can't put a paint brush stroke down wrong. :D What art field do you work in?

Well I've been asked to lead three different arts groups here, and been approached by an arts company to do another live event painting, so I'll most definitely be "on stage" there, and that one is a high profile charity ball. At the end my painting will be auctioned as well.

So it just seems to be snowballing of it's own accord here. This seems to happen a lot with my art, I feel a bit ashamed because I know a lot of people put in great amounts of effort with little return on art, but because I've been in the industry over 10 years, now it feels like an accumulative thing, where it just very little push and I get a new client or lead or event etc. etc.

I think truthfully my art does most the work for me and if I can just not go PTSD on anyone and keep my mouth shut and keep my anxiety down at these events, all will be ok.

Hm, I suppose the morals things are hang overs from two different sources: 1) Mormonism. And 2) court. I know "divorce" and "court" shouldn't be a deciding factor, but its different if you lived what I lived through. I can't speak about that here. Lets just say, my whole life for years was under a microscope in a way most peoples weren't. I was controlled and dictated to, by social services, to the point that they threatened on multiple occasions with no reason to take the kids off me, and so I wasn't just fighting my ex husband, I was fighting the system in the UK that had no governing body above them unless I had taken the social services to court too. It's..a very messed up legal system there. I mostly had kind social workers, but a few were very very disturbing and controlling and conniving. It was like dealing with the worst politicians and I am not a politician. I had to write, record, everything and keep a second person with me at all times. I suppose the balance is that my personal life was the struggle my professional life is not.

I realise I haven't really answered your question but its the best I can do given that a lot of this i'm legally bound not to talk about, and also, that I don't know how to quantify.

I want to be a free loving woman, able to love whom I like when I please. But to still be in my kids life is to hide even from my own (bio)family (the same ones I live with now) who were used against me in court by my ex-husband. They regret their decision to work with my ex but regret doesn't change what happened, and sorries cannot give me my girls back.

So I made peace with the fact that one of the deciding reasons was poly.
Here's an example out of court, but around that time I can share.

I had a long philosophical conversation with the ex-husband in 2015. One of things I mentioned was poly, and he told me: "I would rather cheat than ever share a lover." That is his logic. And it was used against me in court shortly after. He had kept record of what I had said and he had said, and the court sided with him.

For me, being myself isn't ok in the world, and I'm tired of fighting an uphill battle. So I dyed my hair blonde, and I dress conservatively even though i'd prefer to dress like a rocker chick with dark hair and knee high boots.
What I want, that doesn't really factor into the real world, I do not have the power to make it so. And I can speak up for others willing to fight that fight, but I have very little fight left in me. That's how my morals and life view are at odds with who I am again. I feel like the years when I was trying so hard to fit into Mormonism while being bisexual, only not acknowledging I was- so I would then have never fit into Mormonism in the first place. For a long time I struggled in and out of the church, and eventually left. This struggle now with this blog and poly feels a lot like that. But every time I walk away from poly, it feels like I fight against my nature, who I am- which is a fruitless struggle. But if the choice is my kids..or my nature..? I don't know. Maybe non-practicing poly is the best way forward.

I suppose most clients wouldn't care. I don't post a lot about poly or dating on my FB, and I don't post it anywhere else except here. So I guess it's this blog that is the most damning. If my exhusband were able to prove it were me, he probably could indefinitely stop me from seeing the kids. But this is the only space I am most real, and not hiding. I don't really want to give that up either. And that small part of me that hasn't given up fighting, doesn't want to stop fighting for myself either, even if it seems pointless and selfish.

And clients would care about reputation- and not many would understand why I let my kids live with their abusive father. Or that I had very little choice in the matter? I cannot legally speak about it to defend myself, but either way the damage would be done, as it is now by saying it here. It would be seen as me "letting" by me giving up.

The peace I find here, in New Home Town, is mostly because I am not longer haunted and hounded by him, and social workers at every corner and in order to do that I knew I had to let my kids go. It's not a decision I would wish on anyone.

I think I have been sitting on these feelings for a long time...Thank you WhatHappened for helping me pick them apart and give voice to them.
 
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Mothers are judged incessantly for everything we do. In a no-win situation, sometimes your only option is to choose self-preservation so you can live to fight another day.

Congrats on your art! Everyone on these boards seem so creative!
 
@Powerpuffgrl1969

Your message I pondered on a lot. So simple yet so true. And as I was going to bed at midnight here today, I suddenly thought of this scene in a whole new light:

Monty Python: Witch Logic Clip:rolleyes:

But you are right, I did sort of choose self-preservation. I am now shoring up my resources to fight again, but I don't know if I'll ever be in the right place to fight more. We'll see. I'm working on it. Baby steps. I'm still working on getting my feet under me.

Thanks so much for the congrats on the art, its very exciting at least in that avenue of my life, that part feel really great and i'm very very happy.
I can't wait to get started on the painting of the couple, it's going to be...gorgeous. :) So many people are so quick to judge and not see the depth behind steady people. As if by having routines and jobs and no negative drama that they are somehow boring or less than. I have had other creative types comment on this in the past. But having steadiness gives me a place to realy sink my teeth into creative pursuits that are more challenging, and also find things beneath the surface of people ina slow unwinding.

It's like the difference between watching the sunrise, and being on a roller coaster. My whole life, until the last 2 years with the girls no longer living with me, have been a roller coaster of up and down, and even before then really. I Was starting to learn steady on and off for the past 6 years, but it was hit and miss. It was a lot less "bad drama" anyway. And a lot more good.

But now I crave simple pleasures. Like inviting Ariel and Landon over to toss a ball for hours to the canines here. Or, to sit in the sunshine painting.

The last few days I've been really unwell, I had been fighting off a cold for about a week and all of a sudden, on sunday night, I came crashed down. I slept straight through from sunday to Tuesday evening. And only came up for air to eat, take more medicine, putz around on here a little, and then pass out again. Weirdly though, it went away as quick as it came. I Wonder if it was the ruiminating on those past things to answer here (Or at least in some part that). I definitely had a "fight or flight" moment in my body after that post and was quite teary eyed and exhausted. But i'd also been "go go go" for days. So I probably just had an adrenal fatigue crash too.

And then there;s the sunshine /heat and new viruses/bugs in an area I've never been to before nor lived.

So lots of different possible factors.

Well I almost did an "old star" thing and cancelled going to the trip. But I know I need to go. First of all I'm feeling better, and secondly, I don't want to put off anything fun anymore because I feel I don't deserve it, and that was old thinking running around in my head.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Ariel, and I'm a little worried about Landon,...he's had a big burden wit ha new responsibility in the household, they took on board a disabled pet that's a lot of work, and I think its a bit too much with his job hunting and new area and no friends. I think it's further isolating him to be honest.

So hopefully I can cheer him up a bit when I see him. :) He's still my friend after all.

Tonight I exchanged numbers with a potential on OKC. Theres been so many dead ends there lately because the people are just so unorigional. I mean..."hi how are you" gets pretty old pretty fast.

I did have a somewhat original copy and paste: "When did you Fly over here? because you sure are Wright for me!"

Maybe I should just go back to Solo poly, it was working for me, sorta. And I'm really not sure i'm cut out for long term relationships. I mean, I would love to have what a lot of women here do have, but i'm not sure I want to give up my freedom to do it. I love living with my grandma and mom preciscly because I don't have to be the primary homemaker. I do it 1/3rd of the time, and it's awesome. I also loved it when my aunt lived with me because we did it together with the girls. So that was only half the work too. It was nice to be part of something that was shared.

I could not, do not, will not and won't be the mother, full time care taker, of a man. And that's very much not been the way it works for me in dating. I don't know if that's because I tend to choose men who want to do this role more? Or because I lived in England so long? I don't know. But for whatever reason...I mean even the last guy in the couple was more homemaker than me! Landon is VERY stay-at-home type. And he was kind of put off anytime I did try to help. ;)

He makes food, and cleans up, and takes care of pets, and does laundry..its pretty awesome actually- but he was dead sexy assertive in bed, and he does usually hold down a job just hasn't found a new one out this way yet.

So yeah..

And Rocky hated me doing everything for him. ROFL. I once cleaned up the bathroom, thoroughly, as a surprise gift (love language) and it really freaked him out.

He was interesting though, he knew NOTHING about taking care of a house before me, but he only ever wanted me to do it to show him, so he could do it himself and not rely on his sister or mother ever again, he was VERY glad to be doing it himself and now he does the very humorous grumbles that he has to pick up after his housemate who never does anything...LOL...:rolleyes:

And definitely Rocky is much better at laundry than I am- the ironing and putting away part. He was pretty good at the details, and he liked the finishing touches. But then I was kind of balancing that with being better at finding places for all the small things around his place, so it wasn't all out of place.

Anyway...I really like where this new guy conversation is heading. He's tall, open on his OKC, handsome, fit, around my age, 33, (finally!- I really don't too well with 25ish, not enough life experiences yet with most..) He gave me his number, and messaged me first, which is all good things, we have a lot in common both parents living apart from kids, both nomadic and now settling down, both love travel and geeky stuff (steam, star trek, we were discussing the merits of different seasons), and I think I'll set up a meet up with him for next week. :)

My weight loss has stalled due to my illness but i'll work on it over the next few weeks. Its no point weighing right now as i'm in the middle of the time of the month. Sigh, why am I always on my period during my holidays somewhere fun? XD This happened twice with Rocky and now on my first "friends holiday". I've never done this before, gone on holiday with friends. :D Another one to tick off my bucket list haha.

I will message you all when I am back in town! I will miss everyone, i'm kinda addicted to this site haha. It's my poly security blanket...
Mass Cuddles!

Oh and I wanted to answer one more thing:
How being poly affects my career is very real. If I choose to come out completely it could affect who I get paid from. Who I get work from, and who will trust me in the future. Men might be judged for jobs based on clothes, or skills, or work ethic, but women are judged with all that, plus being beautiful or TOO pretty, or too bossy or not, or kids, or no kids, or having left your kids, or... or... or....the list goes on and on and isn't necessarily just from men either, its also from other women. :( I'm trying to be a small change in that, but there's only so many times you can speak up and get knocked back down. So yes, coming out here publicly is no small matter for me, and also, I know it would be easy to trace me via art. possibly with smarter IT types my email or username. and maybe it wouldn't be bad news for me, but, I doubt that. The internet is a different place to when I joined here all those years ago. Bigger, more regulated and monitored by the governments, less of a free space. Like a co-op store being taken over by Walmart.

Or maybe it could go the other way, I quietly step into my poly life, and do my art around what I am, what my life is, what my reality is, as I already do. The most likely thing to happen is my art goes viral and I get some publicity.

You know, even though I keep this blog i'm incredibly reserved in real life. Not a lot of people know about my life, so there's the loss of that too. As I step closer to my art goals, the possibility of losing my anonymity becomes more real.

However, its probably more exhausting fighting who I am than it is to say, I am this, and deal with the consequences as and when they come, if they come at all.
 
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Powerpuffgrl and Polysnow, thank you so much for both your vote of confidence. It was much needed! :)

I appreciate so much the solidarity and compassion. It means a lot!


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So onto the last few days. Holy mother of god has it been SO BUSY! And yet amazing and I'm more solidly set that I am truly friends of Ariel and Landon now and that it is ok. I feel very happy about all this, and not looking for relationship with them as this is not what they need and I need friends first, and lovers later anyway, so it all works out.

I can look elsewhere for lovers should I desire this, and I have a little bit, but mre on that later.

First the fantabulousness of being on the beach, and parties with actual adults, and fitting in, and finding friends and a tribe, and being accepted..I just..it was all I had hoped for with Rocky et all friends and never got. I am so, so, so very glad for Ariel and Landon's friendship and the more I get to know them the more I respect them. They are mature and understanding and owning their own shit and cool and cucumbers when dealing with conflict or issues. They are educated, multicultural, multi-ethnic, inclusive, kind, generous loving and wonderful people.

I felt immediately embraced into their healthy, happy home in a way I can rarely describe, it reminded me much of my best friend B who helped me extensively with kids and adopted and fostered many people in her life- and my great aunt Honour. It just felt right and was easy. I understood their language, their rules, and the social ettiquitte.

And even more than that, I just laughed and played and conversed and life felt blissfully easy for me to know hwat to say when I needed to and what not, to not be worried that I had saw Landon naked and was now talking to his 18 yr old brother or his mom, or Ariels mom and dad haha. I just knew what I needed to do when and I wasn't fussed. My shit stayed in my corner. Is this what life is always like when all people have own boundaries and healthy respect and kindness towards others?

It must be.

We went to the ocean, we had a pool party, we went to a concert, the fair, we sat together at a group, and separate, Landon did small gentle genuine gestures without outing us, and I him, without outing him, though I suspect his mother sensed something. It's hard not to, Landon is a gentle and kind soul and his mother is very much an empath, but I was kind yet distant to her as was appropriate of my "best friends husbands mother".

It all sounds a lot more complicated than it was. It was easy because I knew what mattered to me and what didn't. What mattered is that we all had a good time, and I came away with friends. What didn't matter was whether I had sex with anyone and if anyone knew about it. It just didn't to me.

I made awesome friends with all the ladies and in fact realised that, I have a strange super power of using that same mothering skill I thought was lost in me with my girls, on this group of women as we were there. I pulled out a girl from her reserved artist shell. I had another cuddle nd hold my hand as we went just her and I to the downtown, she affectionately named me older sister, and mummy of group. :) We had three Europeans in the group and their level of touch is different to American, and I enjoyed having that with the women, its the first time ever as a bi-sexual woman, I wasn't overly sexualising casual touch. Thank god for Europe.

I needed this, they needed this. We played board games, we walked, we went to healthy food restaurants, I mitigated drama (As moms do), and I supported both Landon and Ariel and all their family as much as I could, and should do as a house guest and friend. I did my best not to stare at all with undressing eyes at Landon, that was the only complicated part was that I was on my time of the month, and I get super horny that time, so I ahd to manage all these feels separately while not having access to my own comforts in this which is sex/masturbation. And in that case I say thank god for my therapy I did last year. I feel so much stronger and more able to human since it, even though during it I felt like I was in a never ending hell.

There were a few "tells" Landon did during this time. I caught him staring at me a few times. He also came up to my room once and let me know he had made coffee for me this morning. (especially for me as all others had had coffee and I ahd waited till the end to shower, because, that's what group leaders do- tend to others first) And also, he sat above a rock ledge dipping water onto me while I was chatting with others the pool. That was a bit more obvious one, as he did it for sometime lol. He also intentionally included me in outdoors physical games quite a bit, throwing ball / Frisbee to me a little more often than maybe was necessary. It was small things yet I noticed them and worried for him as I had no desire to rock the boat or encourage romantic things on this trip. In fact I almost bowed out worrying I could not handle the disparity. But it was only O.K. because they are so cool people that it made it easy.

And also I have worked on my skills so much, that I actually enjoyed the opportunity to practice under sharing after all my forced-coerced-oversharing in the past. (UK law, social service, Mormonism etc.)

So although in and of itself this type of secret is rather awkward, I appreciated learning when and how to say things carefully, and when to direct a conversation elsewhere, and to carefully navigate my own personal boundaries. :)

So I am not giving too much details as you'll notice because I haven't informed this couple yet about my blog. The reason for this is in the past I overshared that I kept one, and then regretted others reading it. So I am going to talk a little more general from this point out until I figure out how I want to take this direction of this blog and where things go with this couple or not.

Things I can talk about is a date on Tuesday with a new guy who is ACTUALLY openly poly, yay!

Also a road trip to my first home town possibly next week.

AND fathers day today. :) Which was lovely for my dad. Who I now title with that honorific.

ALSO, just feeling so loved from Rocky lately. He's given me so many messages and picture updates and virtual kisses. He's being so cute and endearing! I know I shouldn't give it too much space, but I cant help it, the guy is adorable even if we're just not practical long term in so many ways right now.

lets see what else, art from my trip that- and 20 new social media contacts in one week woot!

Life is so fucking good right now, there's so much more I want to say but I am burnt and tired and drove like 6 hours today and been non-stop for 5 days. I need to pass out and tell more later.
 
So..
I bumped my date up from evening with new OKC guy to early morning coffee because I think I am going to skip dance class again tomorrow night.
We do a lot of ballet type moves in the class for core strength, and my foot has a large blister that peeled open last night after my bath, and its right on the ball of my foot! :(

So I've been forced to take a day off my foot to recoup. So instead I am writing here, I am napping. I am taking the opportunity to fast, after all the fun over the long weekend.

I noticed yesterday the family is getting a bit annoyed that I don't have a job. I think mostly it's jealousy over my trip and maybe feeling a bit taken advantage of? I am not sure. I tried to ask directly and they got confrontational and I didn't have the energy to try again and manage my own feels because I was so tired yesterday.

I do know the relationship between my mother and step-father are quite dysfunctional. Basically it's like this: My mother is very controlling but also has a "switch" point, where she melts down with customers and problems or things in life, and takes it out on my stepdad. Then its like a pecking order, it used to be me who used to get "dumped on" with my mom, but after years of living away its now my step-dad. But he has no one to vent to, and I think its spilling over onto me too from him. And also I look quite a bit like my mother, so its easily done on an unconscious level where people assume I will react like her, and when I don't they relax and are surprised. It's happened a few times with my grandma and my step-dad and brother, where people feel on-edge around me, like a volatile object. And I've put two and two together that its like they think I will be like her, and they usually put a comment afterwards going "Oh, you look so much like mom".

Conversely, it was so refreshing and rejuvenating to be around Ariel's family who are kind and gentle people with VERY good boundary management and physical/mental health that coming back to this type of relating is exhausting for me.

So, I'm very much in a place of reassessing my future plans here. I want to help the family, but there's only so much I Can do.

I think the best option going forward right now is actually finding a non-art job full time or part time, and saving up responsibly. It's not that I don't get OK money from art, I do, and it is building an upwards spiral, but its inconsistent- which is the biggest issue. I need to have a job that consistently gives me money to save for things. For example going back to education for massage therapy next year, and also, going to see my kids. Right now I think my family thinks I do nothing. Because they see me socialise a lot but they don't see the art I do as "work" or the social media/networking I do as "work".

But that's not true, I do a LOT i just do what I do very differently from my family and I don't sacrifice having a social life to do it, in fact a social life feeds my art and life blood.

But I can see how they feel run down and taken advantage of, even if it is only 2.5 months I've been here. They are people that only value peoples self worth if you're in a 9-5 job, and even then, they'd find something to complain about.

Nothing is ever "good enough" for them, and me, I am so happy with simple things. And I spent very little on this trip, In total it cost 200 dollars. Including petrol and housing and food and activities. That's VERY little for 5 days beach trip, especially with all that I actually did do!

So basically I need a safe space to be me in.

I'm also unaccustomed to being...a child role anymore. So there is a bit of that going on as well.

Where my mother tries to force me into this role and I simply ignore it. I do my own thing, and continue to be an adult and do adult things. And while I haven't been paying rent here, I have been contributing towards petrol, cleaning house, encouraging socialization with the family, and helping mitigate issues with the landlord, and helping with the business some. As well as basically doing counselling for my mother, who I saw cry for the first time the day before I left for the trip. I am worried she might be having an emotional melt down with this work.

So i'm not sure what else they want from me? Perhaps when I get a full time job i'll just pay rent and then they can't really complain. Or if they do it will be hot air, and not serious. Two hundred a month is reasonable for this area for a room plus utilities, and then an extra 50 for food or just buy my own. I have so many various food sensitivities its not like I eat a lot of it anyway.

Ok! I'm done justifying my existence like this. It's unhealthy.

I should be able to rely on parents to help in times like this without the negativity, but my adaptable, flexible and adventurous attitude towards life is at odds with their regimented and restrictive lifestyle. Which means it makes me at best a mid-term house guest. Six months to a year is probably the life expectancy on this! (Realistically)

I was really hoping to stay more like 3-5 years, and really get my self established but I think it's an unreasonable expectation as I don't think the payoff of listening to my mother emotionally dig at me, for being me, is worth it to my sanity. Regardless of how much love and affection is there from my grandma.

They also are adjusting to me being this way too as the Star they knew never went out or did anything, I was quite a home body when I was a teenager, and although I was involved in many things and did have a part time job, it was basically coerced by others rather than done in a joyfully happy place of myself. So a lot of what I did and who I did it with was around what THEY wanted of me.

So yeah order of priorities now to adult more efficiently by myself:
1) Get a job 10+ an hour.
2) buy a car
3) push back the seeing kids till December, so I can secure a job and squirrel away money
4) Save save save, for school kids and life.
5) Continue working on artwork, to then either network with my last teacher, OR try to get into local gallery midterm/long term.
 
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Continued:
On the poly front, I'm impressed at the way Landon is handling all this: he's taken his OKC down, and is working on his issues he is having with his wife dating (jealousy mostly). I gave him some reading material for him and Ariel. All the standard ones, more than two, opening up, sex at dawn, ethical slut etc.

She has stopped dating the man who came to the party (regularly), and is joining us ladies on girly events instead. Her OKC now says looking to date women, and we seem to be getting to know each other well. She is the one who told me about the jealousy and I appreciated talking about it. We both enthused last night in text about each other and were all giggly and nice in the car. It was a lot of fun. I feel very comfortable around them both, and I really feel like we have the potential for long term female friendship which is awesome. We have a lot of similarities and conversation flows easily. Theres a lot of openness between us all, and general feel good, and I think I adulted well on the trip, for myself, and I feel happy.

This new OKC is falling very heavily into NRE towards me and we haven't even met yet, we're just talking on text now, though we are meeting tomorrow. I would have met sooner but the trip and such. I am being a lot more cautious, the lady he is with would like to meet me, which feels encouraging since its being prompted from her end - meaning that she already knows about me. I got some photos of them both, he intimated shes interested in a female connection but i'm wary of anyoen who promotes a lady for her. For a couple reasons, it means the lady isnt comfortable enough to find women herself, which means shes probably more into men or just bi-curious, but also, i'm leery of unicorn hunters.

I don't feel especially attracted to her in any way from photos, and I know she recently had surgery for augmentation of her body, and while everyone's body is her own, i'm very feminist in this and unless is physical reasons (like a physical problem) I'm not really for augmenting your body with major surgery for vanity. The life risks and cons outweigh the pros for me. So I'm wondering how much he's poly. Is he transitioning lovers? Sometimes people do this, I'm curious but a lot more cautious. I have different vibes about this couple than I do Landon and Ariel and I won't do anything to mix my social circles until I know where I land in my own social networks and build some security there.

For me, I am liking what is happening with Landon and Ariel.

After some thought I feel good still about stepping back from Gabrielle and his partner, even though they are lovely people it just wasn't a right fit for me socially in a broader sense, as in there wasn't enough overlapping interests/commonalities etc.

Gabrielle is regimented and routine and more of a home person, and I am always like a boat at sea, rocking with the waves and even leaping into large ones. My lifestyle would have clashed long term with his and partners. I also deal with social media differently than Gabrielle does, and I handle social situations quite differently, I mix with a lot of different people, and I enjoy other situations than him. I would have been annoyed at things that isn't his fault, and I think it was actually kinder to step away. I miss his friendship, but I wasn't able to segue to just friends easily so it was easier to give it space and drop it for now. :(

I wasn't in a head space to help him carry his load with things, and also I wasn't able to put appropriate breaks in relating when he wanted to pry into my load, I found myself cycling back to unhealthy places for me in my head.
Even talking about him makes me feel heavy and sad.

So I'm moving on from that, back to this new OKC guy who is poly. He's got a lot of life experience similar to me, which helps. He has two kids same age as mine, has been in navy, and nomadic like me, is a similar age, similar interests, working on putting down roots while still being restless spirit. The only difference is he's doing the full time single parent thing, and I'm doing part time, that may be a deal breaker for dating..and may not. We'll see. I can't really see myself sacrificing time/money/energy on someone else's kids in New Home Town, over seeing my kids, it might be better for me to be with someone without kids but we'll see.

I am not passing judgement. I have no idea how is networks are, family, kids, bio mom etc. So I am just listening a lot and taking in all the info. We have a really good playful banter vibe which is nice and I've told him I'd like to wait and not rush on physical, that not to assume just because I am polite and flirty in text that I will start with hugging him first thing when I meet him, or that I will kiss him at all on the first date...or even the next few. I don't know. I know I have been rushing physical too much with people for my own comfort and I need to stop that. It's causing cognitive dissonance in myself.

I am basically arguing with my vagina right now over who gets the say in the end. lol. :p
 
I invited a new friend to drawing on Friday morning in a nearby canyon. It's super hot in the daytime, so we're packing up and going early.

I'm really looking forward to it.

Only an hour to this coffee date, but I feel a bit...not sure I even want to go. But I'm going to go anyway. Sigh. I don't know. I need to just lower my expectations.

It wasl ike a weird text miscommunication three times now with trying to call each other and it not working out. He calls spontaneously whenever, and I'm a, plan the call in advance and talk at a pre-scheduled time with new people. I'm not so like that with people I know, like family and close friends, but new people go into the box of "yeah lets chat at 8pm after work/family/dinner".

He doesn't seem to be able to understand or abide by my boundaries in this, and it seems to be genuinely frazzled and not malice but we'll see. I don't know. I have weird vibes about it now because if he can't do a simple thing as confirm a time to talk,w hen we're texting a lot anyway, hes had plenty of opportunities to read it and say yes or no instead of randomly calling me at odd moments..which makes me feel bad when i have to pick up and explain, hey, i'm busy right now and told you this 5 min ago in text...
It doesn't really bode well for an actual date.

Am I getting crotchety in my 30s? I feel like I have less I can deal in, haha. I am feeling blah today after the trip, and I got turned down to go to old home town for that job too which is a bummer- i was looking forward to that. :(

And I really hate being around the constant confrontation. It's jarring to wake up and go to bed two days in a row of screaming matches with my mom and step dad. Takes me back to places in my brain I don't need. I find myself wearing my headphones and listening to Pandora a lot.

I hope I cheer the fuck up soon.
 
So it's basically the emotional drop (like sub drop) from the trip, and also the realisation that is now hitting home that I am here long term without kids
I had a lot of triggering events AT the house too while on trip and I ignored those and it was a snow ball effect yesterday and today. I think I'll be ok tomorrow.

So my instinct isn't necessarily telling me this guy is bad or anything, just that i wasn't in a place to go out today. I should have listened to my body and emotional state.

I am pretty sure I triggered because of talking to someone who has their kids, (same age as mine and two of them..!) who is a dad and hearing him talk about the mom. I know it wasn't about me, and that the mother doesn't want to be a mother(from his point of view), but I just burst into tears about 2 mins after the date. In fact I had to excuse myself early to do so.

I sat in my car and bawled my eyes out for quite some time. I was exhausted afterwards.

I wondered if this story was similar to what my girls were hearing- that I didn't love them, or want them? If this was the bullshit my ex-husband had said to his new lady? I just couldn't do it. I know it wasn't my story at all, rationally I know this. Emotionally, however, I was pulled through the wringer on a day I was already heartrendingly vulnerable in.

He was kind and gracious and my bad vibes weren't about him at all. Although he tried to get me to meet him at his work for his break for lunch. Um no. Just no. So I met him outside at a Sonic - there was no coffee places in the area. We sat outside in the sunshine having lemonade. The guy only had 30 mins as he only had an hour break. I just kind of went, yeah I can't do this date today. Maybe I could date him. I don't know but my initial thought is, this brought me uncomfortably up against things I am still working through.

It doesn't matter how "compatible" we are with poly, or our high O.K.C. percentage or his kindness or anything. I can't date someone who is a single dad right now- In this particular similar situation. :(

That is just causing me unnecessary heartache. So...I learned that. I'm not even sure I have the fortitude to be friends to a single dad right now, or at least this one. Maybe I need to sleep on it. I didn't have the problem in the UK, but here, it's different, moving into a different stage of life I guess.

And then just as I was starting to feel better and had a good cry and some food in my stomach, I get a text from rocky cancelling Skype tomorrow. For fucks sake, Rocky is so unreliable. :( And I don't get it. It's always when I ASK, after he's strung me along for weeks/months. It's not like we skype a lot, we've skyped once since I've been here ???? I need to get my boxes from him then cut contact I think. I am so over this Rocky thing. I really am. I don't know if today wasn't also crying over that and the possibilties of people. Like, this OKC guy had eyes so much like Trip too. I just was like...what the fuck, i am so emotional today. ?????

I really really really want to let go of Rocky, and generally emotionally unavailable people. Sigh.

My heart litterally aches today and yesterday and tears just keep bubbling up all on their own, without much thoughts going on. In the case of the date and the car I knew what i thought that brought it about (rocky, trip, the kids, my self worth based on kids etc.) but other times lately its just doing nothing. I am just suddenly overwhelmed by feels and THEN i have snow ball thoughts: I miss my kids. So maybe theres unconcious thoughts going on? Like a shirt I see, or a kid in a street, and i'm not consciously registering longing to see them or missing them?
 
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Whew I feel MUCH better today.

I think that guy is a non-start. I mean, I pretty much lost it in front of him babbling, nervous, then crying. Ah well. I was one of those crazy dates that I usually tell stories about, I guess it had to happen at least once ;) LOL

I'm learning to let it go. Move on.

Tonight I went out with friends which was much easier for me, except seeing Landon, we were both acutely aware of each other. Clearly there's still an attraction by the amount of eye avoiding we were both doing. I worried about him as he left early and didn't stay for games and drink afterwards.

I hope our sexual stuff hasn't put him off being friends in the group :( He's a REALLY sweet guy and really deserves to have a social group he can feel safe in, I'm not sure how to tell him that he is indeed safe regardless where we are.
But its not my repsonsibility to help him feel ok around me now. He was the one who wasn't sure he wanted to be emotionally available, and that is stuff for him to work out. I did pop him a message to ask if he's ok, but so far no reply. I don't expect one, now that sex has stopped he's petered out with talking to me, but it feels less like a "I dont like her without sex" thing, and more like a "I dont know the rules here- this isnt the same as swinging, and I'm not good at articulating feelings" type of thing.

I'm amazed he's married if he's this ..shy? at talking to people. He's such a cool guy and if he feels shitty about the way he treated me, the secret stuff and such, well that's his problem too. I will be there if he wants to talk, and i'm more than happy to discuss it and work out a workaround, but really, he just needs to pull his own big boy pants on and deal. HE Chose this hahaha- i just beat him to the punch of saying it and not dragging it out by asking if thats what he wanted.

So yeah.

Also I wrote a very simple text to Rocky saying: "I am very sad we won't be talking today, I looked forward to talking to you and I'm disappointed now" I didn't offer to reschedule, i didn't apologise for my feelings and I didn't sugar coat it. He said sorry again, but didn't offer to reschedule. So i'll leave it and I won't suggest again. I will sort out my money stuff and get my packages sent to me. Then I will wash my hands of this unfortunate situation with him. I cannot handle my heart and expectations, even small ones, continually broken again and again by him. I have no idea if I will ever regain trust in men generally after all this drama i've had with men over the years. I am finding myself contemplating again more and more the female friendships I have been making and how valuable they are to me now, and how I wish I had realised this years ago. I don't even have desire to have many male friends now, though people keep asking.

Ariel was really sweet at the dinner, speaking of female friends, we kept of conversation and talked about different various things. She didn't come to games night and that's ok. It was nice seeing her again.

Tomorrow is another movies and game night at a university community room of one of the ladies. I'm looking forward to that.

I should ask just me Landon and Ariel out sometime to try to get used to our new dynamic and clear the air. Practice makes perfect right?:cool:
 
Bwhahaha

I had a man message me with a 2 month old baby living with his mother, and asking if he can come over to my house as a first date, all in the first 5 minutes of conversation.

So I very politely told him, I don't meet people at my house first meeting, and 2) I don't date people with newborns simply because all their energy should be on the new born. I phrased it like this "It sounds as if your life is quite complex right now, so I think that i'm happy to be virtual friends but I will not date you.- Also I don't allow people to my house on the first meeting."

He replies "My life isn't complex, its an open book. :)". He is not poly/open, and god knows if his wife knows hes talking to me. And omg, what kind of father is he being? I know when my kids were that little i was constantly exhausted and tired and overwhelmed by everything.

Yeah..people be weird. The weirdness of OKC never ceases to amaze me.
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I did however have a lovely long conversation with Ariel today. I'm seeing her tonight at movie night and I'm looking forward to cuddles. I hope she's open to cuddles - I feel the need to wrap her in big warm hugs because she is grieving the loss of her other partner as her and husband decided to close for now. I think this is a sensible choice and i was right that Landon is hurting. I hope hes o.k., but there's little I can do now that they are closed i cant very well be a friend in his mind because he's seen me naked. Silly monogamous thinking.

And now I go get ready for a movie night with comrads, men and women mixed group. Tomorrow is an art exhibition. I'm so social lately. I love it :D Now if only I could keep my mood stable with the grief process of kids and finding a job. Sigh.
 
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