Cleaning my shoes

I am not going to sit here and claim to be an Enlightened Human Being (tm). I have moments where negative emotions eat me alive and take over. Yes, I have to work through them. Some of them woke me up at 3am this morning. Bastards.
Poly people sometimes think that it is a bad thing to have negative emotions like jealousy, for example. I think it's not a bad thing, it's just an internal alarm that you need to step back and ask why that is happening. Suppressing it just makes it worse. Hiding it does not help. Ignoring it does not make it go away and certainly doesn't make it better.
Look at negative emotions as if they were cuts, sprains or broken bones. No one would walk around bleeding all over the place with a thumb hanging by a thread. If you have a serious cut, you would go to the hospital and get stitches. There would be antibiotics to clear any infections.
It's the same for negative emotions. They hurt, cause pain like a cut and your partners can administer emotional first aid by listening. They can help ease your pain by reassuring you, arranging things to reduce the chances of the emotion reoccurring. Hiding the hurt would be like walking around on a broken ankle. When one's in pain, it's hard to fully enjoy the glorious things around.
I came to this conclusion after a busy Saturday spent with the guys. They had an Atlanta Poly board meeting, we went to a meetup following that then went to Santacon (a pub crawl). On top of everything, we celebrated three years of being a triad.
At the last bar we went to, a Santa tossed feathers in the air which covered the floor. When I got home, I noticed there were feathers stuck to the soles of my shoes by heaven knows what gooey stuff. I was too tired to deal with it and left them for the morning.
My brain had other plans. Thoughts and emotions spun around my head, waking me up and sending me to the living room to listen to the Bloodhound Gang and upload pictures. I tried to ignore my emotions and the thoughts that woke me in the first place.
Then I looked at my shoes. Some things can't be put aside or ignored.
So I'm going to take my own advice and let my caring, supportive partners bandage the hurts.
Then I'm picking chicken feathers out of my Chucks.

The Revolution will be Normalized

I'm going to get this out of the way: I'm poly. Happy now?
I've heard lots about the movement and plans, getting the word out and it just makes me bone tired. We don't need flag-waving, cardboard-sign revolutionaries. I disagree. I think what we need is to let everyone that we are that word that no one likes to use: normal.
At least to ourselves. As I type this, my husband is tapping an email while our boyfriend and 18 year old son discuss a video game. Our 6 year old daughter is sleeping or at least pretending to and I'll bet you a handful of internets that she's got a book with her. I'm listening to the Killers and trying to put the words in my head down. This may explain why I'm disjointed.
I've seen some online journals about being poly and, well, just living. Normal stuff, things that all of us go through at some point in time. I've said it once, I'll say it again: being poly is just like having a relationship only there are more people and a LOT more talking.
Yeah, normal. Gas-pumping, grocery-shopping, tv-watching normal. I read, like sci-fi and own a Siamese. Who are you?
The revolution needs to be normalized. We need to stand up and say "This is who I am. I'm just like you, only I have to deal with the same relationship woes many times over. But when I hurt, when I need someone there are many hands to help me stand."
Education can only happen when one can relate to another's experience. I can talk all damned day about being poly but if I relate it to something you are familiar with we have a shared vocabulary that we can use to discuss issues.
I fully expect to be beaten with a cardboard sign. Know what? I'll stand up from the dirt, dust myself off and ask how many of them have had someone else use their toothbrush. While they're blinking, I'll tell them how our daughter walked out the bathroom scrubbing her teeth with our boyfriend's toothbrush.
Normal.