That Sort of Season

 Often, the start of winter is referred to as "cuffing season".  I talked about it last winter as well.  That time of year when people start to feel the urge to find some manner of partner, whether short or long term, to have through the holiday season, and over the winter, when we have less time to go running about.

And topped off with the pandemic, and being less able to meet new people to latch onto, it creates a temptation to go back to exes, old partners, or find infatuation with past crushes again.

So even though I am barely on social media, and make it a point to not contact the people who I know won't be good for me in the long run, somehow they've been popping up.  More than one person who I know has had feels for me in the past has sent a random message, wanting to reconnect to whatever capacity.

And in most of their cases, they either have a partner, or are very recently out of a relationship (nothing like a test of compatibility to actually have to spend time with someone).  So while I'm polite with conversation, I make sure to steer it away from any sort of expectation.  They know I'm poly, which is probably why they contact me in the first place.

Well, sorry.

Being poly doesn't mean I'll be the other person.

Being poly doesn't mean I'll help you cheat.

Being poly doesn't mean I'll be your rebound.

Being poly doesn't mean I'll be your escape from the partner you've invested life in and are afraid to leave.

And usually, as soon as I put down some matter of boundary, they whine and disappear.  That suddenly I'm a person, and not a vending machine, and I'm reminded of why I tossed them from my life in the first place.  Or they wake up to see their own shitty urges that they acted on out of impulse.

I'm not a cookie.  I'm not a pair of shoes.  I'm not an impulse.  

I'm a person who has been through a hell of a lot, and I know better than to let myself even give a chance to any of that.