I haven't posted in forever! I feel the need to do so, though. This forum always seems to be a magnet for all the things that have gone wrong in poly people's lives, it's only fair that the success stories are documented as well.
Things are going fantastically for us. Our triad is coming up pretty close to our first year together, and while there have been minor bumps in the road, it has all gone pretty well.
We took a Disney cruise right at the end of summer. We spent five days in the Carribbean and then two more at Disney World afterward. It was an absolutely amazing time. The kids had their own room and the three of us had a second one. We didn't feel at all guilty that we took the really good room
We got a fairly good sized suite with a balcony. The kids were having so much fun that they were barely even aware we existed most of the time.
A few weeks before that we finally had our talk with Oldest. She already knew too much to not just come clean about everything. We explained to her what polyamory meant and how all three of us love each other. She really was impassive to most of the discussion. She asked if Freckles and I were going to get married, and wasn't that illegal? I explained to her that not just Freckles and I, but also Curls and Freckles would all like to be married to each other, but that's not really possible... at least not in the eyes of the legal system. We explained that we HAD talked about it as a 'what if' scenario and that if things worked out well between us then we WOULD like to be married someday, even if its done in a totally non-legal ceremony. She rather frankly asked my wife if her and freckles... you know, "do stuff" together in bed too. They affirmed that fact and we explained all three of us are equals.
Up to this point, neither of our other kids really know what our relationship means. We still do not speak to Curls' parents. We still don't particularly have any interest in doing so. We have come out to my parents. Both of them are cautiously amicable to our lifestyle. My stepmother is kind of cool towards Freckles, but my dad and her are practically best buddies, always joking around and talking when we are over at their house. My sister turned out to be a huge issue that I wasn't expecting! While she is only very, very casually Christian, she decided to take up a self-righteous issue with our lifestyle and won't speak to us. I'm not terribly broken hearted.... her and I have always butted heads. I can deal just fine with her exile.
I'm still working nights... though the end is in sight. I work for a retail "big box" store as an assistant store manager, though I have technically been promoted. A new store is being built about 50 minutes away, and I've already been named as its store manager. Though I make decent money now, this is going to nearly double my income after bonuses and such are factored in. I shudder when I remember back to when Curls and I first started out being terrifyingly broke. The transmission went out on her car last month, cost 2200 to fix... back then, that would have destroyed us. It's easy to take it for granted when you can just pull out your checkbook and write it without a second thought.
The weather is finally breaking a little bit. Freckles is out for her morning 3 mile run for the first time in weeks. She carries a little extra weight on her and is always extraordinarily self-conscious about it.... despite me constantly telling her that she's beautiful. So starting today she's back on her healthy diet and exercise kick.
Curls is also great. She has always wrestled with spiritual issues about swinging and poly... she comes from a very religious family. She finally tossed that burden off a few months ago, effectively backing away from Christian philosophies. I'm very proud of her.