Oy, what a ride

Glenn

New member
So, my wife (Crystal) and I have been poly for less than a year now, and dealt with our fair share of drama and weirdness. But here is a little blog about our time. This will be rambly, so deal with it.


So in August last year, we decided to open our marriage up and try becoming poly, we both have had a history of strong emotional attachments to people who weren't each other and falling in love with them. We never once cheated, or gave each other the option to.

My wife and I both met some people online. She met Flash, and they hit it off pretty well. He had lots of baggage and proved quite a challenge for her as she was so used to me, and how open I am with things. Even when we weren't poly, I would tell her when I was attracted to a coworker, friend, etc and express my feelings about them to her, I am always very open and honest. He was not, he was withdrawn, difficult to read, etc. Their sex life began nearly immediately, which was a bit awkward for me, but I handled it well. I always told her when I was jealous, or upset, or something bothered me even a little.

Shortly after I met Renee. She was a bit of a fireball. Very drama in retrospect. I loved that about her though. Her baggage was insane, she was in the process of getting divorced. She brought a lot of drama into my marriage, Crystal had a really hard time with her. She shut down and withdrew from me. I didn't recognize it though, I was completely wrapped up in Renee. Around Christmas things exploded into a huge mess, Crystal Veto'd Renee. A did not handle this well, but accepted it. Crystal didn't handle it well either. She hated herself for what she did. Eventually she told me to talk to Renee, and we all sat down, discussed and tried to fix. I dated Renee again briefly before realizing I couldn't handle her. We tried staying friends, but she eventually just stopped talking to me in February.

In January, Crystal and Flash had major issues, Crystal was constantly hurting. So I felt to protect her I had to Veto him, it was bad. I eventually wound up rescinding this as it was just as bad if not worse. They got back together briefly, then broke up. She started seeing Shorty, who was already married and Poly with his wife Donna. Shorty is a very quiet and doesn't really speak to anyone. Crystal and Shorty didn't last too long (the breakup was mutual and everyone still gets along ok), and I became friends with his wife Donna.

As things were winding down with Renee, I started being more social with some of my old friends and regularly hanging out with Cath as well as Shorty's wife Donna. When I told Cath about the poly thing she thought I was entirely crazy, and could never do such a thing as she is way too jealous. To be fair, I only told her as she was a friend and we haven't been hiding it from our friends. I was kinda interested in seeing Donna, but she is a Sub and I am not really Dom at all. But some feelings developed for her regardless, but they stayed pretty mellow. At the same time Cath and I started becoming closer. So I asked her out in a "dating" way. She had to think about it, a LOT. But eventually she decided to give it a whirl, this was March. We've been seeing each other ever since.

After Crystal broke up with Shorty, Flash got a hold of her again. They started hanging out as friends, but I was pretty adamant they shouldn't date. Eventually things nurtured again though, I caved and they began dating again. His attitudes and everything were soo much better this time around, and she has been overall very happy with him. So I am glad I agreed to let them see each other again.

Now Cath has had some issues, but thankfully was already friends with Crystal. So that has helped. She's been very good with her, and not acting competitive. She does struggle with her jealousy feelings though, very specifically towards Donna, whom I don't date, but we are very close (we snuggle, light kisses, no sexual contact). It's hard to reassure her though as Cath does have rather low self image as her previous BF's treated her like shit. I always give Cath priority though, and have cancelled with Donna before to spend time with her as Cath's schedule is very hectic. And Donna is very cool with me cancelling on her to spend time with Cath when it happens. So as time has progressed Cath has become more and more involved, though she has stayed Mono with me. She apparently has no interest in seeing anyone else, which I support as she is permitted to do what she wants (I only ask disclosure, not permission, though I do reserve the right to have an opinion she should consider). Cath has made amazing strides in her jealousy issues, and it has never overflowed into my marriage negatively. She isn't very open with her feelings though, and I've done what I can to make sure she knows her feelings are safe with me.

This weekend we finally managed to all get together for the local Medieval Faire, it was the first time our metamours ever met. Which was hilariously weird as they are both kinda closed off at first. So both thought the other didn't like them much. But they just need time. It was also the first time Cath met Donna. Which was silently awkward and thankfully brief. Overall it was really nice though, we all had a good time.

And now we are at the present, I know I left out tons of stuff, but man, it's been a crazy ride.
 
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Welcome Glenn.

Your story will be easier to read if you use nicknames instead of just initials. You'll have more readers with nicknames, I promise!

Carry on with your wild ride! Sounds like you've navigated some tough waters.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I nicknamed everyone. Poor Flash lol. First time I met him I introduced myself and he just said Hi, shook my hand and bolted, hence he's Flash lol.
 
So Cath only see's me once a week or so, tops. Our work schedules clash and her home life is fairly busy. It's not as often as I'd like to see her though. I'm on the tail end of my vacation right now. And wanted to see her before I went back to work, so shot her a text asking if she'd see me today or tomorrow. "Idk" ugh, to be honest, her comm skills kinda suck, she tries though. She almost never does well letting me know when she'll be over until the day she comes. It's a bit frustrating for me as I like to plan and she doesn't. She's very fly by the seat of her pants.
So I explained that I was a bit upset that she couldn't answer me. She got super defensive. I know her ex-bf's were the verbally abusive sort and kinda beat her down (she doesn't take compliments well either). She really tore herself down about it. So now I am stitching this back together before coming to the problem again, all she has to do is tell me what's going, I get that it's not going to be a yes all the time, but knowing a huge thing for me.

Ugh .... this is what I get for dating a younger woman lol.
 
Careful on comforting or indulging her too much when she beats herself up when you confront her with something. I've seen people use that behavior to effectively prevent their partners from ever confronting them because then they'd have to do the cleanup work of the self-abuse that followed.
 
Previous GF used to use that sort of manipulative behavior. I really think this is more of her self-esteem is low and I made her feel bad. I'm hoping we'll actually get to sit and talk it over soon. As we were texting I think she saw me being more angry than I was, she's never really seen me upset to realize my tone changes very little when I am angry. I just get stern. But I stay calm and approachable.
I know her ex, he was a rage sort when when was mad. So how I handle my feelings is very different than how he did, and therefore how she needed to in the past. Hopefully she'll acclimate to the more peaceful fighting.
But thanks for the warning ;) Thankfully I've dealt with that sort of behavior in the past. So recognize when it's going to be problematic.
 
So Crystal and Flash have been actually been doing well working through some of their problems. He has made some big strides with her and being more open and actually communicating well which is really cool.

I noticed since my small discussion with Cath about her not telling me when she intends to see me, she seems to be more chatty about that sort of thing. She asked today if she could come over Wednesday (which is my Birthday!!!) but she asked ahead of time! I am so excited, I know it's dumb, but just knowing when I can expect some time is such a big deal for me.
 
So I admit it, I am absolutely terrible about blogging and such. In August I had to break things off with Cath, I need time, it's a core fundamental for me. I get that sometimes things happen and it's hard to find it, but she would not be flexible at all. Along with other minor problems, I simply came to the conclusion that she and I were not overall healthy for each other. It was hard as she still doesn't see it and I treated her better than anyone else that she's ever dated so she took it as a hard blow. We still talk and I am trying to be careful to navigate still being friends while helping her build herself up.

Flash and Crystal had a bad turn around the same time, he broke things off with her, I was honestly a bit relieved.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to a girl online, we had agreed to basically give a fwb situation as I am concerned that my needs of a more serious partner is an unneeded burden to them, and that was what she was looking for as well. So I started seeing Liz a bit, we hung out a few times, had ome rather awesome sex. Crystal even joined us once, which was her first with a woman and she had an amazing time. Unfortunately it was right after that encounter that Crystals mental health issues flaired up badly (they'd been creeping in for a while, and a lot of unrelated family stressors pushed her to the edge, along with not having her medication) so she went into the hospital for a few days. Even though my relationship with Liz was meant to be shallow, she drove over half hour out of her way while she was already running late to meet up with her friends to do some prep work for her friends wedding to check on me for 20 minutes .... I have to admit being really taken aback. Most people don't do stuff like that in my experience. I realized right then that keeping this shallow wasn't gonna happen. Liz checked with Crystal everyday, called the hospital to talk to Crystal, consistently checked on me to make sure I was ok if I needed anything, etc. Flash who was supposedly trying to stay friends with Crystal, never checked with me, not fucking once. I was so angry, I finally texted him the hospitals number so he could call her if he chose to, he did, but not till the day she was being discharged.

Crystal and Flash are still trying to stay friends, and Crystal is still carrying a lot of emotional attachment, I mean they were together for over a year, but I can't even stand the thought of him anymore, too many times had I tried to be friends with him only to have him dodge me and stuff, I spent too much time cleaning up Crystals emotional baggage from him.

Liz and I got super close after this, Crystal and Liz have also been getting pretty close, they both actively enjoy hanging out with each other. Liz has been amazing with all the stuff that's been happening in my life too. My wifes aunt passed, my grandma then passed two days later. She offered to come and help with the kids and stuff multiple times, she's actually coming tonight to take care of the kids so we can attend the viewing without having to worry about them (those are so rough to do with kids running about), she even offered to watch my brothers kids too to make it easier for everyone.

Needless to say she's been a breath of fresh air after my past partners. Honestly though, it scares the shit out of me. I'm not always the easiest person, and she's totally handled everything amazingly. We'll have to see what happens, but wow, just fucking wow.
 
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