Tiny Love Stories: ‘We Entered the Stormy Landscape of Polyamory’

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Modern Love

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words.

My middle name is Traugott, after my only polygamist ancestor. At 36, I came out as gay, divorced my wife and left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At 37, I began dating a man. At 42, we married. A year later, we’ve entered the stormy landscape of polyamory. We have each other, our children and boyfriends. I never thought I would have anything more in common with Traugott than an odd name. Now, I wonder: Could he and his two wives have given me relevant advice, a map for my new love life? Oh, sweet Jesus, the irony. — Shawn Bitters

He loves history. He wanted to write a biography of John Quincy Adams. I, shamefully, knew almost nothing about John Quincy Adams, so I went online and bought every biography of him I could find. One day, he called me, claiming that we wouldn’t work out long term. He said he loved me but that we had different interests. “What does love mean to you?” I said. “That’s an impossible question,” he replied. I, however, find love to be quite simple. Love is the stack of biographies on my nightstand with a bookmark near the end. — Julia Nicole Camp

We broke his bed. It’s exactly as it sounds. Every time we made love after the break, the frame would groan and wheeze in tandem, as if echoing our efforts. My boyfriend and I have both moved homes, cycling through cheap furniture as we have the phases of our lives. I sometimes mourn the loss of that squeaky bed frame and all it represented. We love each other, hard. — Maggie Mahoney

Fourteen years ago, Oscar ran with me down to the tide pools, scrambling over rocks and chasing crabs into their hiding places. He chased all of his dreams back then — UPS trucks, skateboards, cats. He ran for miles on those four little legs. Now, my mother brushes his teeth and feeds him cannabis cookies every night. “Getting old isn’t for the faint of heart, is it?” she says to him, and he looks up at her like he knows exactly what she means. — Sophie Newman

See more Tiny Love Stories at nytimes.com/modernlove. Submit yours at nytimes.com/tinylovestories.

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