I never should have blocked Gwen. Broken up, yes. But not blocked. They’ve always known when it was the depression talking and not me. They’ve always been an emotional support, and holding their hand when that’s what I needed wouldn’t have been so bad. And I probably shouldn’t have looked down on them so much for offering to move here but never doing so. They’re struggling to get by like the rest of us.
Dammit I should know better than to close doors. I almost learned that lesson the hard way in 2015. Gareth had seemed miserable for months and months. It got to the point he was monosyllabic. I didn’t feel like I could talk to him. When I learned he tried to take his own life and would have died if his parents hadn’t been there to save him, I got pissed. He didn’t tell me he was going to do that, obviously. He would have just been dead and I wouldn’t have even known. I had already been getting more flirty with Christine than I should have been. I left Gareth.
Obviously that was a mistake. I hadn’t given myself time to heal. My sorrow was ruining things with Christine pretty quickly. I missed Gareth and his cat Jersey and his family. Well, my high school sweetheart, Danny, decided to go hang out with Gareth. He then told me he was really worried. Gareth looked awful and had been cutting. That made me realize he needed me after all. I left Christine.
After some time healing, Gareth explained to me that it wasn’t because he was unhappy with me. It was because depression made it difficult, if not impossible, to be happy with anything at all. That really opened my eyes to how depression works. I blamed myself and my cancer for his misery when I should not have taken it that personally. Depression is one hell of a beast and deep down, people don’t truly want to leave you. Depression is just, that bad.
Years and years later, Gareth brought up the fact that he felt kinda trapped and unfulfilled cuz he’s polyamorous. I struggled with that for quite a while. I didn’t think I was. Then I saw Isabella “Bunny” Bennett, my favourite member of Steam Powered Giraffe, living such a happy poly life and it just kinda clicked.
I then asked myself, why had I spent so many a night laying there crying, wishing so badly that Christine would talk to me the way we used to? I hadn’t thought we’d fall off so hard after our breakup. It was years later and I couldn’t get her to respond to much of anything I sent. Why did I rack my brain so hard trying to think of some way for us to connect?
Because I had been in love with her.
I hadn’t told Gareth I had dated her when he and I were broken up. I worried it would hurt him to know. I finally told them both everything. Obviously, they forgave me and the polycule began. Gareth even told me that, when he and I first got together, I had said I was thinking of dating either him or Christine. I had completely forgotten that. Gareth said he didn’t have the language at the time (poly certainly wasn’t well-known in 2011), but he had always kinda wanted me to date both.
And from that I learned, hope isn’t lost. Relationships can be repaired, no matter how hopeless it may have seemed. And that, is why I consider myself good at dealing with people who have severe mental health issues. Gareth taught me so much. And I keep getting choked up, because he’s seriously been struggling these past couple years. And just yesterday, he posted on Insta about how the weather is getting nice again and he’s reading outside again. I’m so damn proud of him. And I told him as much.
We’re not just a polycule. We’re a pack. Despite everything, we’re there for each other. I dunno, lately I’ve just kinda felt like when the time comes and I need help, it’ll be there. I’ll keep in touch. My door is always open. This family doesn’t have to die. There’s a lot of art I wanna make so for now, I’ll be in love with my work.