So I'd like to be referred to as M. My wife, we'll call Sunshine. We've been together 4 years. We're a married couple who have had a few swinging experiences. When she and I got married two years ago, we stepped out of the lifestyle and focused more on ourselves. Now we've found ourselves in a place where we're comfortable swinging again, and it has done wonders for our intimacy, our sex life, and our relationship.

Sunshine and I have a few rules, so here's what makes it work for us.

1) We're extremely selective in who we trust to be a playmate.

2) Once we find a match, we stick to them exclusively. My wife and I are very emotional people, and we like to take others' feelings into consideration. So it's never been about wham bam thank you ma'am and then moving on to the next person. We actually care about our playmates on more than one level. So it's more about finding playmates who we'll come back to on a regular basis for playtime.

3) We always play safe. Safety is one of those things that comes with earning trust. We want to earn the trust of our playmates, just as our playmates may want to earn our trust. Guys always provide their own condoms. Toys are kept in individual ziplock bags, and cleaned on a regular basis. Whatever is used on one area of the body, stays in that area of the body. No going back and forth from hole to hole with toys.

4) We always have a meet and greet with potential partners, whether it be another couple, or a single partner for her or for myself. All parties invloved, whether they'll be involved in playtime or not, are at least involved in the initial talks.

5) Everything must be on the table, and the lines of communication are open at all times. The only way we're going to know what a playmate wants, doesn't want, likes, dislikes, what works, doesn't work, what the dynamic of the relationship they're sharing with their partner is like, what their parter is comfortable with them doing, or having done to them, etc. It's an everything on the table sort of thing.

6) Again, my wife and I aren't very big on playing with one person or couple, then moving on to the next. It's about a lasting relationship that's based more on a common interest in playing with each other than how many partners we can get into bed in a given week.

I'm not posting this to boast or brag about my life. I'm posting this because there are some really thoughtful guidelines my wife and I follow that may help somebody else along in their own swinging journey.

Ya'll play safe. Play nice. Play hard. Play smart. Most of all, stay happy.

-swingsix