Back in September, an impromptu happy hour with new friends introduced a new person into both J’s and my life. J and C ended up hooking up that night (yes, while I got the chance to hook up with a hot couple who were also recently acquired friends). Several nights later, I joined J and C for a fun night of threesome play, even though C is really only into guys when it comes to sex. It didn’t really take away from the fun that night, especially since I went in knowing the score.
I’ve never really talked about compersion here on this blog. Maybe I mentioned in passing that compersion is the term coined to explain that feeling of happiness one person gets when they see their lover, be it husband/wife or girlfriend/boyfriend, with another person sexually and/or romantically. I say and/or romantically because polyamorists adopted the term compersion to try and get the world to understand you can have multiple relationships successfully and share in your lovers’ emotional and sexual satsifaction with another person without being involved necessarily. Maybe I talked about it in that vague, unattached way without giving you any real life examples.
Mainly because when I experience compersion in my relationships, it’s generally mixed in with a great big dose of fear that sometimes looks a little like jealousy and, more often than not, envy. I get the wonderful gift of feeling joy at watching J enjoy multiple relationships while at the same time worrying over every little detail like only another Virgo mind can really appreciate. I can honestly say that, with the exception of our first experience with K, every relationship since has brought the same warring feelings into my life, heart and mind.
It wasn’t anything these ladies did so much as what their entrance to my life could mean. I was worried about what might be - because with K , I did no such thing. With K, I threw caution to the wind and took a chance that my heart meant as much to her as hers and J’s meant to mine. I thought our years of friendship, the time her and I had taken to know each other and care about one another, would be my safety net. I also put a lot of stock into J’s other poly experiences and his talk of being able to love more than one person at a time without it causing damage to our relationship. I took a lot at face value in that first poly relationship.
It’s not that I blame K (okay maybe I blame her) or that I blame J even… truth be told, we all were to blame. Me for my blind faith, K in her lack of faith inability to share, and J for his unwillingness to accept that K was not who he thought she was, who she claimed to be. It was all part of why we weren’t able to stay together as a triad. It also plays a part in why it is almost impossible for me to experience just compersion in any current or future poly relationships I might become a part of later in life. I can’t say it will always be this way; it’s just the way it is now.
So, while I was happy for J that he had a new friend with benefits, maybe potential love interest – I was all kinds of crazy scared of what that change meant for me. J and I are funny that way… one of the things J tells everyone about is his inherent selfishness. And it’s true. J wants what he wants and damned anyone who gets in his way. Even me, at times. But this is what gets me… when people look at our relationship and hear that or experience it, they think of me as the martyr, the poor suffering girlfriend who lets her man get away with it. But the truth is – I’m just as selfish as J. I think that’s why we work so well. He’s fighting for what he wants, I’m fighting for what I want but in between all that is this amazing love that refuses to let us break up without reaching a compromise between what he wants and what I want.
So it’s been several months since C entered our lives. We had some really interesting times between J and me as we tried to navigate this new relationship. J and C have settled into a really nice friendship and casual sexual relationship (that sometimes I get to enjoy as well). C has learned a bunch of new terminology from this newly tried open relationship style that so far only encompasses one couple (that would be J and me, in case you weren’t following). Of which, her favorite term would be compersion. She’s even explained it to her ex-boyfriend and several other close friends.
When C learned about my initial worries regarding her, she was a little devastated and I think hurt. I’d promised her total honesty when it came to whether or not she was “stepping on my toes.” What she didn’t understand is that I didn’t consider my worries something she needed to do anything about… no, it was all on me. It was my stuff to own. I think I’ve worked on it quite well and C and I are fast friends.
It probably won’t be the last time I find myself working through the compersion/jealousy feelings. I’m glad it worked out well this time. I found myself a great friend… and sometimes bed partner, so to speak.
