About a month ago, I attended my first poly-meet up at a Greek bar north of Atlanta. It took about an hour of blind-driving (i.e. directions from Map Quest...yeah...no smart phone here...) to find Nick's Bar and Grill. It was an odd little spot that seemed a little backwards. As soon as I walked in the restaurant...BOOM...a meeting room filled with couples and singles...all sitting around a family-styled table. It looked more like a family reunion than a poly-meet up. I found myself stumbling over my words...trying to find the right ones to ask for a group of people getting together to talk about intimate relations with multiple partners...but I managed to get it out. Boy was I happy that I hadn't just crashed someone's private celebration, dear reader!
I was quickly introduced to everyone in the room and attached many names with online handles. Everyone was cordial, but I could tell that they were familiar with each other from past meetings and I really felt like the true poly-newbie. There was a fellow Southsider in the room who described himself as shy...ummmm...that was actually an understatement (smile if your are reading this "G"). Noticing that he really was much more bashful than he admitted to being online, I moved and sat next to him. After engaging him in conversation and listening in on other table chats, I realized that this group appeared to be a tough one to crack. The talk ranged from discussions about careers to a recent law graduate's thoughts about certain Supreme Court justices and their decisions...to only God knows what down on the other end of the table. By this time, I was a little confused...yeah, I know that there is more to talk about in polyamory than how to get hooked up, but there was little to no conversations...at all...about the elephant in the room...POLYAMORY!
So, I started wondering...just how would you get that topic of conversation introduced? No sooner had that thought flashed across my mind when fresh faces arrived...whew...saved by the poly-cavalry. Among them was a rather friendly trio who sat down near my end of the table...to my delight...and just so happen they were African-American...like me...and new to this group...just like me. For a few more minutes, I continued to listen to the thoughts of the law graduate...and longing for the conversation to quickly change to something WAY more interesting...when I heard the newbies ask lifestyle questions...real questions about polyamory...so I moved, again...closer to the action.
Soon, this trio...female/male/female...was sharing the intimate details of their relationships. I learned that they were a love triad...who stumbled upon polyamory and were still looking for answers to their many questions. Like me, they had experienced swinging, but were more interested in establishing lasting relationships...friendships. NOW, things were getting interesting. They shared that their adventure started out as a wife-swap that went awry. Awry in the sense that one set of swappers got along extremely well (and still are intimate partners), while the other set didn't hit it off at all...which left the male in this trio looking for another significant other. The second female in the group was the recent addition (to both the lifestyle and to the area) and the love interest of the male...whew! Now the second female, which I will simply call CeeCee, was a pretty interesting character who I found out was interested in finding an ANR (adult nursing relationship) or erotic lactation partner. Now, ANR was a totally new concept for me people and would probably be considered more a sub-sexual culture of erotica than polyamory...but it stands to reason that through poly-relationships, she would be exposed (pun intended) to more willing partners...I'm just sayin'... :)
This little group...at my end of the table...seemed to be in full swing to my delight! We were joined at various times by others...who would briefly share their poly-stories...then move on to another group. This discussion style continued for the remainder of the night. As conversations came and went, I learned about many interesting things and events (which I shall share with you in future posts, dear reader).
What seemed like more of a miss than a hit...in the beginning...really turned into a rather informative, discussion session that had me longing for my next poly meet-up...which will be this Saturday on the Southside of Atlanta...so stay tuned, for (hopefully) many more stimulating discoveries... dear reader...
Polyamorously Yours,
Atlanta PolyNewbie
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