Happy Birthday to me!

Polyfulcrum celebrates:

This upcoming weekend is my birthday, #33 to be precise, so I guess I'm officially in my mid-thirties now! I'm very happy that I am able to spend individual time with both S and PG as part of that celebration. Much better to have time to myself and my loves without domestic responsibilities than get a new robe. ;)

S and I went to a quirky little tree house out in the gorge last weekend and we pretty well collapsed. Slept and ate and enjoyed the time together. I think the sleeping was a key feature though. ;) It seems like we've all been pushing so hard in the past couple months in particular that when we were able to stop, it was just a total crash. S was wily enough to set up a massage for me at the beginning of the trip, so put that on top of the hot tub on the deck and I was a happy woman!

This upcoming weekend, PG and I are going to the Seattle area together! We have some things that we are planning to do, and I'm sure there will be quite a bit of that relaxed snuggle and crash sort of stuff going on as well. We're also supposed to have dinner with our friends who are feeling very uncomfortable with our poly selves. Since that's pretty early on in our trip, I am hoping that it doesn't negatively color outlooks, or lead to too much mulling things over.

S is being rather brave. He's handling both kids AND the new puppies while we're gone. Last weekend while he and I were out, PG was at home with our daughter taking care of business. This would point out one of the main advantages of the poly household model. With the exceptions of the few times that all of us head out together as a larger group, there is usually someone available to hold things down on the home front, freeing up others of us to be out and about. We all have more opportunities to participate in a wider variety of activities and trips. There are times when I feel like I take advantage of that, since I am seldom the one that is at home alone while they are out, then I consider all of the additional domestic stuff I handle during an average week, and I get over it! ;)

PUPPY POWER!

POLYGESTALT BARKS:

Tonight, we added two new additions to the family. Both of them are five-to-six week old puppies from different parents and neither are pure-bred.

BELLA (the light-colored one) is from a litter of puppies whose mom died one month after birthing them; her mom was abandoned at a nearby dog park. We suspect that she has some lab, german shepard and maybe some pit bull mixed into her.

DONNA (the black one) is from a litter of puppies where the father is a 100 pound lab and the mother is a small terrier. She's also the runt of the litter. So... who knows how big she'll get eventually.

And yeah, we like word play. :)

Main Entry: bel·la·don·na
Pronunciation: \ˌbe-lə-ˈdä-nə\
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian, literally, beautiful lady
Date: 1597

1 : an Old World poisonous plant (Atropa belladonna) of the nightshade family having purple or green bell-shaped flowers, glossy black berries, and root and leaves that yield atropine —called also deadly nightshade

2 : a medicinal extract (as atropine) from the belladonna plant

Being Rejected

POLYGESTALT LAMENTS:

A friend I've known since high school just visited our new house for the first and last time. An hour ago, he told me that he and his wife were so uncomfortable with our lifestyle choice that visiting us would be tacit approval of that lifestyle and they would not be visiting our house ever again. They would still remain our friends, but all further gatherings would have to be on neutral ground. They would also be OK with having just PolyFulcrum and myself over to their house, but not with any of our additional connections in tow.

The polite, but somewhat tense conversation touched on their concern over my daughter's life growing up in our house as well as their own sense that we would unwittingly corrupt their own marriage and new child that is due next month. It saddens me that they feel the need to restrict our interactions to such a degree. I fear that will wither our 20 year friendship down to a dry husk of its former self.

Odd poly moments...

Polyfulcrum expounds:

We had a housewarming party this past weekend that consisted largely of PG's family and co-workers and a few friends to leaven things with. It was our first big event in the new space, and I think we're all delighted with the way that was working!

My mother in law brought a blanket over as a gift that has all our names embroidered on it, and the kids, which I thought was extremely sweet and supportive of her. All of PG's sisters were here, and there was an amusing moment while one of them was browsing the bookcases and I'm quite sure saw one of our polyamory books out. Both S and I thought the other had put it away.

Later in the evening G (PG's... whatever they're calling each other these days? sweetie?) and her kids decided to spend the night on the fly. This left her stranded without feminine hygiene products, as we use different varieties. Thus was borne one of the odd poly moments in life: S and I went on a mission to buy feminine hygiene products for G, whom neither of us has a direct relationship with, while PG and G were putting the lot of kids that we all share to bed! I'm not sure why I found that so amusing, but I really did. ;)

On a slightly more toned-down note, I also found myself feeling sad later on. G was a part of my family at one point, and I keep hoping to find that feeling of family coming back following the re-orientation in their relationship. During the overnight and following morning, I wasn't able to resurrect that family vibe, and I don't know if that's going to come back. We were very amicable with each other, friendly, interacted well, and were helpful and appreciative of each other, but it just wasn't the same, and I miss that.