2020-07-25 // coming out! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Y'all! My wife came out as a lesbian to me last night, and I'm SUPER happy for her! She's been out as "bi" for a long time, but she's had some revelations over the last month or so and realized that that label didn't fit. I'm surprised, but not, at the same time. But: huzzah, the gap between her inner identity and how she presents is closing! And that's really what coming out is about, I think. About a year and a half or so ago, we kind of went about exploring an open relationship. As is usually the case with fledgling polyamorists opening an existing, longstanding relationship, it turned into a dumpster fire super fast. Put most frankly, we weren't ready. You've got to do a lot of introspection before you can do that sort of thing ethically (and I realize that for many that might read this, "ethically" and "open relationship" don't jive). Anyway, my wife, C., dated a fellow and I dated my friend, A. We didn't handle the dynamic well at all, and C. asked us to close our relationship again. I, uh... well, that was a hard experience. We hurt our lovers badly doing that, and I'm not proud of that at all. But here we are. C. is out! I'm really happy for her. I can't profess to know what repressing your sexuality for 30+ years is like, but I'm sure it's a huge weight off of her shoulders. I love her so much, and I've been both unable to sleep and unable to wipe the smile off of my face. :) I'm sure at some point, the nature of our relationship will change and we'll be open to other romantic relationships, but I don't want to rush things at all. We've got a lot of talking to do about boundaries, expectations, and how we treat and respect each other and other people who may come into our lives. Fortunately, we've got a lot of close poly and queer friends, so C. has plenty of love and support from not just me, but our whole tribe. <3 With love and thanks for reading, kvothe.