It was a beach-y kind of week.

Lots of steps – I averaged 6,704, with a high of over 12,000. My low was about 2,500, but that was actually last Friday. I haven’t lost an ounce, but I exceeded my exercise goal every day except one, and my glucose levels are pretty good, even when I allow for a 40 point margin of error. (So these days, I think of a score of 125 as being somewhere between 105 and 145.)

I read a fascinating article the other day, and thought y’all might be interested in it. It’s called “I Suddenly Stopped Being Kinky and I’m Not Sure Why.” It is exactly like the article says – the story of a woman who was kinky and comfortable with it, The author, Rachel Kramer Bussel, says:

If there was kink involved, I probably tried it during my 20s and 30s. Spanking, bondage, choking, being ordered around—all of it turned me on. Dominant lovers, both male and female, indulged my submissive side and I’d return from dates happily sore, sometimes sporting multicolored bruises I’d admire with pride. I even made BDSM part of my career, editing numerous anthologies of kinky erotica.

Having established her kinky bona-fides, she goes on to talk about her current long-term relationship, which is sexual but not kinky. She says:

Losing my kinkiness feels like it happened over time, and like would have come about even if I wasn’t with D. In fact, in moments alone, I have replayed some of my dirtiest submissive fantasies, the ones that had always been a surefire way to get me aroused. They no longer get me going, even on the few occasions when I’ve fantasized about someone other than D. And I am fully convinced that if D. and I broke up today, I would not seek out a kinky partner. It’s an intimate language I no longer speak.

The article is worth reading for her speculation about why this happened. And she concludes:

Relinquishing my kinky identity feels bittersweet. I’ve learned that the missionary position gives me as much pleasure as kink used to, as does oral sex and even intense makeout sessions. These are joyful discoveries to be made in middle age. On the other hand, I’ve had to overcome feelings of shame that I’m no longer as wild (for lack of a better word) as I was during my younger years. For someone who used to need handcuffs or power play to get her revved up, that has taken some getting used to—even seven years in.

I had about a minute once when I thought the connection in my head between kink and arousal had gone away. I had divorced, spent a couple of years not dating or being sexual at all, and gotten in a relationship with a very vanilla man. He did turn me on with his vanilla ways, and for a minute I thought I was done with all the BDSM fantasy. This was before I even realized that BDSM could be a reality.

But it didn’t take long before his consistently gentle touch quit doing it for me and I was back to fantasizing. mostly from Story of O. Shrug. That’s how it went for me. Of course, my relationship with him deteriorated too. It was never unpleasant or contentious. We always got along in a – well, in a very vanilla way.

He had none of the faults of my first husband, and ultimately none of his virtues either. He was a great antidote to my crisis-ridden first marriage, but about as bland as mashed potatoes. Regular ones, not with garlic or anything. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s pretty mind-numbing.

He’s the one who cheated on me. I think our relationship bored him too. He actually preferred his woman a little more dramatically dependent. Based on what I know of his ex before me and the woman who came after, he liked to be a hero, but in a mashed potatoes kind of way. If you know what I mean.

Anyhow. That was my dabble into a vanilla existence that i thought was going to be my new sexual reality. For about a minute. Not that I always had kinky relationships before that – I didn’t. But I relied on Story of O in my mind to get me going.

Anyhow. Happy Easter, if you celebrate the holiday. We’re doing Easter baskets here and the kids are super excited. This will be their first US Easter and as my granddaughter says, earnestly, “We’ve never had Easter like this!!” Firsts are always fun. Hope you have a good one!!