Cheers Sexy People!
It is with great excitement that I share that I will be at this year’s Beyond the Love conference November 13–15 in Columbus, Ohio. I have been granted a “press pass” to come enjoy the event, take part in the activities, and then report on the experience afterwards here at Loving Without Boundaries. I am so psyched and honored, and can hardly wait! I have yet to book accommodations or transportation (gotta get on that), but I am so looking forward to really diving into this all-weekend, all-polyamory-all-the-time event. And also I am STOKED to possibly meet some of you in person. Meeting friends in person for the first time after much correspondence is a beautiful and lovely gift of living in the moment and truly embracing life. Being able to look someone in the eye, share smiles and laughs and give each other bear hugs just rocks, y’all! Let’s do this! Who is going? Please contact me if you are to let me know, so we can say hi to each other.
Here are some words from their website to describe the event:
Beyond The Love 2015 enters our third year, bringing the largest three day polyamory event in the region! Join us in central Ohio for a celebration!
From classes and workshops to social spaces and fun; we are creating a place that is both welcoming to people new to polyamory as well as has great value to those who want more than 101 classes.
Falling in love is the easy part. But what happens after that? Beyond The Love’s mission is to provide an opportunity for the polyamorous community to come together in an educational and social forum.
At Beyond the Love you will find a wealth of classes, workshops and mini events to learn tools, techniques and communication skills to enhance our poly relationships. We provide a safe environment for meeting with other like-minded people in a supportive and inclusive community.
We welcome all those living a poly lifestyle or considering doing so. We are passionate about recognizing poly as a relationship choice and sharing common experiences on our many different paths. We hope you’ll join us and share yours!
Awesome! I am pumped! Recently, I have been reflecting about my own polyamorous journey. I have been a self-proclaimed polyamorist for five years now. Prior to that (and before I knew what the word polyamory even was), I was dipping my toe into ethical non-monogamy and light swinging, truth be told. That was fun and interesting to me, but something was missing. And prior to that, I researched the topic, read many books and articles and spoke ad nauseum to my husband about ethical non-monogamy. Actually, we discussed the concept of open relationships when we were still dating and not even married yet. We jumped in this pool together and at the same time – which from what I understand is relatively unusual. Often times, one partner is encouraging another to consider coming along for this crazy, adventurous ride. So my journey has spanned over 7-8 years now.
But what I’ve also realized is as much as I am a humble teacher here at Loving Without Boundaries, I always have been and always will be a STUDENT. I am constantly learning, evolving, growing, experimenting and just soaking up as much information and experience as I possibly can. Then I of course share what I learn when I can with all of you as soon as I am able, which is so incredibly rewarding for me (and hopefully helpful to you as you traverse your own path). Especially now that a major relationship that spanned years is over, I am contemplating what the next stage of my polyamorous journey will look like. I am completely open to the excitement of what’s around the corner, and am thrilled to create new possibilities for myself and my future partner(s). The beauty of polyamory to me partly is the different and magical forms it can take. No two polycules are exactly the same or operate the same. The excitement partly is making it up as you go along, dodging and weaving and loving the experience as you go. That’s beautiful. And lovely. And opens such a wonderful road ahead for all of us.
As I embrace the possibility of new connections and new relationships, I am raising the bar – and it feels so so good. Looking back, I know I was settling for sub-par behavior and sub-par experiences. Why? Many reasons that may be for another post. But that is no more. As the quote here says, “You’re in a relationship to be happy, to smile, to laugh, and to make good memories. Not to be constantly upset, to feel hurt, and to cry.” There were many days where my last relationship was good to great – but looking back, there were sections of time of the relationship where I was not being told the whole truth – in fact it was not as ethical or honest as I thought from both sides. And it takes two to tango, my friends. That is not what I want and not what I will stand for. Also, there were simply too many days where I felt unsafe, unsure about what was really going on, and also not appreciated – it’s surprising to me just how much that stings in a rather subtle way. And when I found out I was lied to, I was downright hurt. Betrayal sucks, y’all. And it didn’t have to be that way. Yet the revelation of the betrayal and ending of that relationship is a gift to me. That door needed to close to open up my life to the wonder of other potential amazing, loving connections. And thankfully, partly with the strength and support of this incredible community, I was able to quickly and rather easily recover, reflect and move on. I have an even stronger purpose now with my mission here at LWB, and my own personal mission with the incredible connections and relationships that I believe will find their way into my heart and my life. And it feels so damn good.
Thus it is with love in my heart and a song in my head that I am attending this year’s Beyond The Love conference. Teach me, Obi Wan. I want to learn, grow and experience more and more. Life is a fantastic, awesome journey that we create each and every day together. What will you create today?
_____
Please Note: I have migrated my Loving Without Boundaries website to a new hosting service partly to serve this community better as we move forward. The former polytalkbykitty.wordpress.com website will soon be taken down. Everything has been migrated and copied over here to lovingwithoutboundaries.com. Some comments came in during the transition that did not get copied over. I will attempt to bring them over here, but forgive me please if that is not seamless. Thank you for your patience during this website transition. It is not 100% complete yet but we are getting there. Any technical problems or questions, please direct them to my contact page. Thank you!
Wishing you peace, love and happiness,
(and thrilling, fun sex too!)
Kitty
Hi Kitty,
Congratulations on getting your own domain. I am glad I am subscribed, because you didn’t post to Polyamory Network as you usually do. It was not immediately obvious to me how to post a comment here, so I hope others don’t have a problem finding the little message bubble at the top of your post. I sure wish I could go to the Beyond The Love Conference. I am very much looking forward to reading what you have to say about it.
Hi Jim! Always great to hear from you! Thanks for the congrats. Yes, it has been a little nerve-wracking taking 2.5 years of work and moving it over to a new home. I am not 100% complete with it yet, but we are getting close! Thank you for the reminder about posting my last post in Polyamory Network. It completely slipped my mind. I posted it right after I read your note here. Thanks for having my back! So do tell though: the comment section should be showing up at the bottom of each post as it was before. Do you still not see it? Sorry to miss you at the conference. I will do my best to be a “Johnny On The Spot” journalist and do excellent and interesting reporting on what I learn there. I am SO EXCITED!
When I first saw your post there was just s small message bubble at the top, and a lot of previous posts underneath it. After I posted it showed up as it usual.
Kitty, you’ve been incredibly open about your journey and extremely helpful to others either contemplating or involved in such for themselves. I know I speak for many others when I say thank you for doing so and being so committed to this lifestyle and love-style choice. I wish you well as you attend this event and in your eventual new relationship (admitting I have a bit of a crush on you and will be envious of whoever that person may be).
😉
@–>———
Oh, Steven, you are such a sweetheart! This note that you wrote is SO AWESOME and it warmed my heart – made me smile from ear to ear! You sure have a way with words, my friend! I have truly enjoyed sharing my journey, including all of the ups and downs, and helping support this awesome community any way that I can. It has been incredibly rewarding for me, and I love seeing the positive feedback and others saying that I have helped them in some way. Just incredible. What an experience! You and everyone else reading here are so very welcome. Thank YOU for supporting my website, blog and mission. It really means the world to me! I don’t know how to thank you! But I hope this comment back does in some small way. Thanks for the well wishes on the conference I will soon attend as well. And of course thanks for the well wishes on my eventual new relationship(s). I am thrilled for what’s to come and open to the possibilities! And it feels so darn good! Yes!
xoxo
Kitty
I cannot even begin to tell you how stoked I am that you’re headed for my neck of the woods! I will totally hang around the tour bus until all hours of the night jonesing for your autograph. 😀
(This is assuming we get there ourselves. I normally like things tight, but finances are a MAJOR exception to that rule. Ironically, finances are right because we’re attending a wedding this weekend that’s within spitting distance of YOUR neck of the woods, and it’s eating up our funds. [cries] But even if we can’t make the conference, I may still roadtrip down and look for that tour bus, heh…)
(Throw me an email if you like–I think you’ve got my backchannel adress-letting me know what your schedule is, even in rough draft form–even if we’re in town for the whole weekend, I know I’m going to be roadtripping back to Cleveland at least once, so time may be a little tight, etc. But if you’re game, I will totally find time in my schedule to find you!)
Hahahaha! Robert, you are just so sweet! I am so incredibly stoked to be joining you there at this conference. I can’t wait! Please come and introduce yourself! I assume they will give us name badges. I am not presenting but somehow we will find each other, assuming you do get there yourselves. Do try!
I hope the wedding that you attended was awesome. Was it? Weddings are important, so it’s great that you made the effort to attend. Good for you! I’ll ping you separately in a private email. Talk soon and hopefully meet soon!
xoxo
Kitty