Interview by Holly

1. what is the hardest thing for you to deal with about having an open relationship?

I'd say the hardest part is the same as any relationship. If you fail to communicate, express your feelings, or do anything that could be perceived as deceitful then it starts to break things down. But if you love is strongest enough, then all the challenges can be overcome through open honest communication. If I had to choose one thing that makes being open more difficult it is "jealousy". Not in the sense that your partner is with someone else, its more of the they have someone else right now and I do not. That will lead to jealousy and frustration which may cause you to put more pressure on yourself and your partner that you would normally.

2. Do you honestly think that you can keep that aspect of your life/relationships a secret from your kids as they get older? And if they “found out” what would you tell them?

Our goal is not to keep our relationships a secret. We openly spend time with our "friends" even while the kids are there. We have not tried to explain the relationships other than to say these are our friends and we spend a lot of time together. We do not do anything with others that we would not do with each other in front of the kids.

I do believe there will come a time when we explain that we love more than person, and because we did not try to keep them secrets from our kids. Then our kids are loved by more than just my wife and I. You can't always control who you love and why should you. If I can show my kids a loving, open, and honest relationships where everyone communicates then I think that is a great example to show my kids. But at the end of the day, its all about love, nothing more, nothing less.

3. What made you and Belle decide to have an open marriage? What was the deciding factor?

There was a trip Belle went on to see her parents and took a train vs. driving. During the trip a gentleman she was talking with kissed her. As she relayed this story to me, she judged my response as not one of anger but of intrigue. I was not jealous but turned on by hearing the stories. So over the next several weeks (may even have been a couple months) we talked about it, and what it would mean to us and how it would impact our lives. We both agreed that while we loved each other, we had cravings/urges for something more. So instead of keeping those inside because "good marriages" do not include relationships outside of marriage; we decided to explore them.

The ultimate deciding factor was, we both wanted it. We both had needs that we could not always fulfill for each other, so why not seek to meet those needs elsewhere. And the more we talked, the more we learned about each other and ourselves. We have never been closer and as such I believe our marriage is stronger today than it was almost 3yrs ago when all of this got started.

4. If you could have any job in the world what would it be?

Traveler, Geek, Blogger....I love tech toys, travelling, and reading (to some degree writing even though I'm not a great writer), so if I could get paid to travel around and write things about what I learn then I think that could be great, especially if it was sex related :-)

5. Do you have any hidden artistic talent that we don’t know about?

Sadly enough, I have no known or hidden artistic talents. My wife has all of that in spades. I lack genuine creativity and the ability to envision things in my head when it comes to anything artistic in nature. I am way to logical to make my brain work that way.

Here are the rules if you want to participate in 5 Questions.

Comment in the posts with "Interview Me". If your profile does not include an email address then send it to the email within my profile. I will send you an email with five questions. I get to pick the questions.You can then answer the questions on your blog. You should also post these rules along with an offer to interview anyone else who emails you wanting to be interviewed. Anyone who asks to be interviewed should be sent 5 questions to answer on their blog. It would be nice if the questions were individualized for each blogger.Well anyone can play, I send questions, you answer.

Here is a list of others being Interviewed by Holly today:

Sage

lalana

Freak at Heart