Michelle is a busy single mom. She has a ten-year old daughter, and two adult sons, one of whom lives with her.
How long have you known you are poly?
I ended a marriage about five years ago. After that I just knew marriage wasn’t going to work for me. I didn’t know what to call it until someone told my what poyamorous was. When I was dating after my divorce, it just seemed silly to have to make a decision about who I wanted to have a romantic relationship with. Why did I have to do a choosing? If everyone was agreeable why couldn’t we have more than one relationship?
What was the discussion like when you talked about polyamory?
I had tried dating a few times but the first time I clicked with anyone he lived about 70 minutes away. We decided to try an ‘open’ relationship, because of the distance. He was presuming we each might have a ‘casual’ encounter now and then, but not an additional ongoing romantic relationship. I didn’t know what polyamory was, or have any definitions. It was a little more difficult to adjust to when I found an additional romantic relationship, because of our casual definitions. I had to find my own way, negotiating into polyamory. He got over it. In the other relationship, he was polyamorous, and knew how it worked. For him it was , “Yup, that’s great!” He is a lot closer, he only lives a few miles away.