Polyamory and death

I wonder how many of us who are, or have been, in poly or otherwise open relationships have lost spouses, nesting partners and or other significant partners to death? How did the grieving process progress when you had other partners, or past partners, in the mix? Were they a liability or an asset?

Those who came before

Heinlen of course. He was an inspiration and reading his book, Stranger in a Strange Land, was a game changer for me. It was one of my first inklings that maybe it was our culture, not me, that had the problem. But he was not the first. I am impressed by Émilie du Châtelet who practiced what we would now call polyamory in the first half of the 18th Century. She was a scientist, physicist and mathematician. Her work proved that energy equals mass times speed, squared. This contributed to the science behind Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. She had lovers with her husband's consent including Voltaire who lived in their summer house where she and they collaborated; intimately and scientifically in what was called the age of enlightenment.     

I am reading Wide Open

I am reading Wide Open, My Adventures in Polyamory, Open Marriage and Loving On My Own Terms by Gracie X. This book is the compelling memoir of Gracie X. It is very, very well written.
This may be the best of many, many books I have read about polyamory, though I see it as much more than a book about poly. To me Wide Open is a book about respect. Respect in this case means to me respecting and being true about who you and others are and building a life built around consent and workability that honors that. Respect also means living that life without shame despite what the shifting winds of nomativity cultures (and/or subcultures) may cast upon us.
The introduction is by Carol Queen. That alone would have sold me on the book. I had the wonderful privilege to meet Carol at a book signing awhile back and we had a delightful conversation.
Based on what I have read so far the narrative Wide Open tells a great truth. It resonates with my own narrative and what I have found to be true in my own life of over 60 years. Thank you Gracie X for writing this book. I hope I get to meet you some day.
Poly people, we need more real life memoirs like this!