So this sucks, and it really sucks for swinging and the lifestyle.
It seems like so long ago, but we had paid to go to a hotel party months ago. It was one of those things where you had to pre-pay and we had booked a hotel room and already paid for it as well. That party was on February 29th. Even at that point I remember we were worried. Should we go? Maria and I are both what you might call highly informed news junkies. So we were already well aware of what was going on at that point and knew we might be taking a risk. As I recall at that point there were no reported infections in our area so we decided to go for it. In part because we wondered when we would next get a chance to go to a party like that?
We had a really great time at that party. It was a lot of fun. I'll have to put up a separate post about that party with the details!
Then the following weekend we had another date set up with our friends Cindy and David. I think we've known them for almost 15 years now. They're funny because we see them only about once a year. It would be nice to see them more but it just seems to work out that way. But it's always nice to see them. They had missed our last party because Cindy had been ill and they were really looking forward to seeing us. This would have been on Saturday March 7th. We tried to find another couple or two to join us but it seemed like everyone had plans or didn't want to go out. In hindsight I wonder if people were already starting to question if it was a good idea to go out anymore?
By this point we were really starting to wonder if we should go out as well. They wanted to meet at a bar. We got there and it was packed. To be honest it made us a little nervous at that point but it didn't seem like that big a deal still. We went to a local hotel and the four of us played. It was really great! We had a lot of fun. I'll have to write about that as well. As it turned out, that was the last time we played with other people. So again in hindsight, we didn't get sick that night, so we were really glad we did it. But we were a little stressed for the next 14 days. Waiting for the symptoms to appear.
We were planning on going to another party at the end of March. Saturday March 28th was going to be another Environment Hotel Suite party. We love those parties and it had been a while since we had been to one. We were really looking forward to it. But at that point even if that party had happened we wouldn't have gone. We would have been too nervous.
Things seems to quickly spiral out of control in that second week of March. It seemed like every day things got worse and worse and more dire. I still remember Friday March 13th vividly. It was totally crazy. The place where I work was insanely busy. People crammed in everywhere grabbing as much as they could. The shelves were all bare by the end of the day. It seemed like a weird dystopian movie. I got home that night and it seems like we've barely left the house since then. The few times we've gone out since then have seemed like an episode of "The Walking Dead".
"There's a person over there. Watch out! Don't get bit!"
All the parties were soon cancelled. No Environment party on the 28th. It was interesting to see what the swinger clubs did. I honestly can't remember which one closed first but we remember thinking we were surprised that one of the clubs had a party on March 21st. By the end of the month they were all shut down. No Couples Choice, Couples Playhouse, Lux, or 15th St. On the swingers web site we use the most, SwingLifeStyle, they took the step of taking down all of the hot date ads. Once again we were surprised at the couples that were still looking to hook up that week of the 14th to the 21st. I think they shut down the hot date ads around the 21st.
Over on FetLife things are still wide open. But even there it's really interesting to see how things have changed. Almost all the parties and events have been cancelled. People are still putting up ads once in a while to hook up but they are much more rare.
Yesterday I saw an ad up on FetLife from a younger woman I know from the MFA GB parties. In her post she said she had been laid off from her job (a restaurant chain in the Chicago area I happen to know) and she was looking for a sugar daddy to help her out. So things are coming to that as well. These are desperate times for some people.
All of this is really sad for me/us. When I think about it, the lifestyle is one of our main social outlets. It's one of the main things we do for fun. To get out on a weekend night. We didn't do it every weekend. Usually once or twice a month but it's something we've been doing for almost 30 years. It's a big part of our lives. In a funny way we've also realized during this time how many friends we do have in the lifestyle. We've been texting them to see how they're doing and just catching up on life. A lot of it hasn't been very sexy. On the other hand we have a TON of dates set up for once this is over and we feel safe again!
But when will that be? I'm worried that it's going to be a lot longer than we expect. We loved that hotel party we went to on Leap Year Day. The same group is organizing another one for Halloween. We would love to go! But will it happen at this point? When will the clubs open again? Even if the clubs do open will people feel safe enough to go? I saw a profile on Fet today that said, "No kissing until 2021." Will things like that become the new norm?
Here is my current theory. People are horny beasts. We want to fuck. We want to be social and meet new people. So there will be playing going on soon enough. But my current theory is that it's going to be a long time until people feel safe in larger groups. I think the clubs are going to have a really hard time reopening. Probably the same thing for hotel takeovers and big parties. I love a good GB but I just don't know at this point... My guess is that folks will eventually start hooking up again but in a more small scale way. One on ones, 3sums, two couples swapping. But that may be about it for a long time. We've always hated soft swapping but I could also see that becoming more popular. Fuck your own partner while watching another couple fuck on the other side of the room. Camming. Phone sex.
It's going to be really interesting to see what happens. We're booked to go on our next Swinger Cruise in April of 2121. Hope we're alive and well and it happens and I can write some awesome posts about our adventures! Salud
