Whenever you experience a downturn (financial, personal, emotional), there is some moment, perhaps almost imperceptible, when the fall ends, and the recovery begins. Things may be almost precisely the same as they were just a short time ago, but there is the sense that the future now holds the prospect of better things, rather than worse. Thankfully, in the last couple of days, we've crossed that threshold.I've been learning how it's possible to live in two worlds at once. On one hand, Brenda definitely still has down times, and the time spent in that world still hurts for her. But happily, our exploring, "tending the fire" sexual world is now moving forward again. Longtime readers of this blog will remember Kevin and Steph, who have been friends of ours for years, and with whom we have historically had some sexual contact. Although I haven't addressed this much over the last few months (due to the primary focus of activities being the relationship with Chris and Lesli), we have gradually revealed to Kevin and Steph the full nature of our recent sexual activities. They had known that we were really close with Chris and Lesli, but only after quite a while did they understand what had really been going on. The swinging relationship we had was honestly not that much of a problem to share with them, knowing that a somewhat shared mindset was already there. (Kevin and Steph had in the past maintained an ongoing swinging relationship with another couple for a while.) However, for Brenda to reveal her bisexuality to Steph was a bigger deal; they have have been friends for well over 20 years, and as we've learned from some things we've read, odd things can happen to longtime women friends when one of them tells the other that they are attracted to women! Reactions can range from "eeew that's gross", to "Hey, why didn't you ever hit on me!" All in all, it went fine. Steph is not a prude, and has had a little girl-girl contact with Brenda over the years, and even more with the other couple they were with. But, in reality, she is basically straight, and honestly not very aware of what it's like to be a bisexual woman. Even given that, she's been pretty supportive, and it's wonderful for Brenda to be able to have openness about her bisexuality with at least one person. An interesting development lately is that it turns out Brenda now has two reservoirs of sexual desire which are nearly entirely separate. We have been having really good, intense, and regular sex, even through (or partly because of??) the tough times, and she certainly hasn't been deprived of orgasms. But it has been some weeks now since she has been with a woman, and she is needing it badly. I know her well, and sometimes it's as though I can feel the crawling desire radiating off her skin. I feel bad because I know I can't give her what she is craving, but for obvious reasons I have learned to avoid taking it personally. Brenda saw it described somewhere as really wanting her "other flavor of ice cream", and that seems to express it for her. So there are some definitely positive movements again in our exploration. Somewhat predictably, Kevin thinks Brenda's bisexuality is hot, and our level of sexual banter and interaction with Steph and Kevin has been rising recently. (Look for an upcoming post on this...). Another good facet is that Brenda is continuing her flirting with Stacy the nail tech trainer, and is preparing to ask her out, which is a big first for Brenda. So it looks like there should be plenty of updates to report coming up soon!