People

Dramatis personæ

All of these are pseudonyms

Anna: Is an amazing woman, a writer and an agent of change in my life. She's poly, married and a parent. Meeting her in 2016 changed the course of my life. She's a sweetie.

Cindy: The first of the four great loves of my life. We met in the mid 70s and were married five months later just before I turned 20. We had three kids and a roller coaster marriage that had many chapters, including being an open marriage for about five years,  and ended with Cindy's tragic death in the early 90s in a car accident. She died a week after we had filed for divorce (we amicably had decided our lives were going in different directions.) She is still alive in my heart.

Darryl: My oldest brother. Cindy had a sexual relationship with him that was on and off for about a year in the early part of our marriage.

Dana: Dana have had a very long running romantic friendship. I love Dana. Ours was an emotional polyish kind of relationship that most traditional monogamous people would consider totally inappropriate but that many poly people would not consider poly. I considered it poly. We are friends now. I like to spend as much time as I can with her. Her place is a sweet country escape many miles from where I live and I love going to visit her there.

Franky: Franky (Frances) was my neighbor in the town I lived in and was a single parent in after Cindy died. We had a wonderful but brief romantic relationship that transitioned into a lifelong friendship.

Kelly: My inamorata, Kelly was a college student when we met not long after Cindy died. She is almost ten years younger than I. The third of the four great loves of my life. We had a very emotionally intense longish romantic relationship/affair that defies definition and taught me about a whole new way to love. It was sexless. We are both married now. She was at my second wedding. My wife Sofia and I went to her wedding. Before her, I never knew a non-sexual relationship could be this intense!

Jessica: Jessica is one of my best friends. I have crushed on her a few times. In my opinion she is mildly poly, but she would not agree with that. She is married and has a very close male friend as well.

Lainie: Lainie is a lady friend I have had a serious on and off crush on for years.

Lenny: Lenny is Cindy's brother and Mary's former husband. We remain friends to this day.

Mary: Mary was my first wife Cindy's best friend during Cindy and my marriage. Mary was once married to Cindy's brother Lenny. I fell in love with Mary during the four year relationship she and I had. Mary, Cindy and I had an open polyamorous relationship. Like Cindy and I, Lenny and Mary had an open marriage during this time. Mary, Cindy and I were able to remain best friends during and after the relationship. Mary is the second of the four great loves of my life. Mary died of a heart attack in her mid-50s. I still miss her and think of her every day.

Sam: Me (pseudonym)

Sophia: Sophia is THE love of my life. She is the fourth of my four great loves. We met in the 90s, we were married a year and a half after our first date. Sophia is a real sweetie. Even though we've also had a roller coaster marriage, we almost broke up a couple of times, it has been MUCH better than my first marriage. Sophia had never been married before though she has had a number of relationships including one that lasted many years and was like a marriage. My kids put her through hell!