The Nude Life

It wasn’t bad, it was a great time! But we did have to wear clothes…

Angie and I went to Chicago to visit a couple of very good friends. I’ve known him most of my life, her for a long time. Angie has only met them a few times since she met me but has become a part of the ‘family’. Actually, he’s the clergy that married us. For the sake of their privacy let’s call him ‘E’, she ‘MP’.

They aren’t nudists, aren’t interested. Far from prude but not interested. I mean, we were going to go see a cross-dresser revue Friday night but didn’t because I was not feeling well. Not prude folks.

I’d like to think maybe someday, but realistically, it is rare for nudists to convert textiles to the lifestyle. It has to come from within. Now, Angie took the leap from never-having-thought-about-it to a can’t-stand-wearing-clothes-anytime died-in-the-wool nudist in the space of a few minutes. Happens!

In olden days, E and I, plus a lady of mutual acquaintance (his girlfriend, then) shared an apartment and ran around undressed all the time. No biggie. Of course, we were young and life can be quite flexible.

We went our separate ways, aged, and got used to the lives we lived. That’s cool.

Circumstances in my life eventually conspired to allow me to try something I’d been drawn to since, oh, when the doctor first spanked my butt. I was sold. Nudism/naturism is such a part of our lives now that it’s almost a religion. You know how it can be, I’m sure. Like someone who runs 5 miles a day feels deprived if they miss a day. Remember that, E? Yeah.

So, we spent a great weekend with these guys, talked about nudism/naturism a bit, but they’re far from sold. Like E said, “See these Jockey shorts? What difference can 3 ounces of fabric here or not here make?”

All I could say is, try it and if you still can’t tell the difference, don’t try it again.

Ahh, I hate to see those I love so hampered by ideas that have been sold to them by others that don’t have a clue as to what they are teaching. A natural state of being has been turned into an un-natural one.

How is it that someone raised in a conservative Republican family becomes a Democrat later in life? Or vice-versa? Through growth and experience and the willingness to try to understand new ideas, that’s how. It’s a shame that textiles can’t apply those same life-learning lessons to considering that our lifestyle might have some merit. Maybe something for them, maybe not. They’ll die without knowing if they won’t try. That was the position I found myself in, I tried it. It changed my life. I may live a long time, or a short time. Either way, that time is immeasurably better now.

The thing is, I know and love E and MP and are confident that they would love social nudity. They are very intelligent, involved in social issues, reject a lot of the bull which is thrown our way, yet have a blind spot here. Missing out on a new joy in life they could share, because it is so hard to shed the false impressions we have been raised with. They have a link to this site, may check it out, and may learn something that gives them food for thought. Maybe they’ll explore further (probably run across ‘nudist’ sites that are shills for porn) and see that a LOT of folks have something good to say. Those ‘nudist’ porn sites don’t help the image at all. Unfortunately, they get the most exposure (no pun intended) and the most hits. And folks believe that’s what it’s all about, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

E and MP, I hope you understand what I’m saying here and are not offended. None intended. Thanks for the great weekend, maybe you’ll spend a weekend at the beach with us this summer!

Like John Lennon said, “…maybe someday you will join us…”

- Steve

After being nudists for over a decade, and living the nude life at home and with friends in an active nudist club for all of those years, it seems that one’s perception of what is ‘normal’ takes a dramatic twist.

For example, how many times have you been greeted warmly by a smiling nude woman, with a sincere hug and “air kiss,” the moment after walking into her house? When is the last time you stood inches away from a half-dozen naked folks of all ages, shapes and sizes, yakking away while you yourself and all of them are just as naked as can be, and having a great time with no sense of self-consciousness or discomfort? How much time do you spend sitting among a group of nude folks in a bubbly hot tub, with steam and warm water invigorating a chilly winter night, with no thought at all that anything is the slightest bit out of the ordinary? Have you spent a night playing BINGO at a nudist resort in a room filled with 100 other folks who couldn’t care less what you are or aren’t wearing? Have you stood in front of 1,200 strangers on the stage of a cruise ship, nude, performing in the passenger talent show during a nude cruise — and had a standing ovation?

Each of those situations, and many, many more, are part and parcel of the nude life for us, and have been for a long time. All our best friends are folks we see most often when they have not a stitch on, and we’re just as comfortable and at ease with them and with ourselves when we’re all nude as any other group of good friends would be sitting at a TGI Friday’s fully dressed.

Is this ‘normal?’

Is it sensible / rational / acceptable for adults to accept others as friends / fellow humans in their natural state, without the contrivances and artificiality that textiles confer upon us when we’re dressed?

Those of us who live and love the nude life would argue strongly that it is — if not “normal” in the common sense of the word — that it is something that humans are very adaptable to, and in fact, are more suited toward.

Standing among a group of good friends and discussing matters great and small, nude, is something that is very intoxicating about the nude life. Relaxing in summer’s heat in Nature’s own couture among your fellow skinnydippers, or spending a cool evening in a warm a steamy hot tub with a group of other carefree nudist friends — all of these are experiences that have become second-nature to us after all these years and which we would not like to live without in the future.

A few years ago, between marriages and feeling somewhat morose, I took a nude walk along the river. It was a winter day but comfortable and sunny.

I came upon a woman sitting by a campfire she had built to ward off the chill, and said howdy. She invited me to join her and we chatted for quite some time.

Now, here I am on a romantic beach with an attractive naked woman. Did I hit on her? No. Did she hit on me? No.

The really strange thing is that we just interacted like two adults, enjoyed each other’s company, and shared a nice afternoon. Naked.

Shouldn’t we have fallen upon each other and had wild and passionate sex? I mean, isn’t that what nudity is all about?

Instead, we behaved like any two mature adults would had they met in a coffee shop.

That sure doesn’t fit the average picture of what the general public has of nudists, does it? Hedonists!

Now, to be totally honest, looking back those few years, I really don’t know why we didn’t have wild and passionate sex on the beach. But you know what? I guess we just didn’t need to.

What we had was a man and a woman sharing some time together without the sexual connotations that usually mar relationships between them. And we were naked!

Does this not fly in the face of everything we have been raised to believe?

I don’t know how to wrap up this story. I just know that there is a profound wisdom learned here, something to do with the ridiculous idea that less clothing equals sexual promiscuity. That’s absurd.

I’m still trying to end this thing. I guess I just have to say that the afternoon with that woman was really nice. Guys are always hitting on women, even when they don’t know it. I think it’s in our genes. This was an afternoon when I actually enjoyed the company of a woman without feeling the need to hit on her. Does that make sense?

Angie’s going to kill me when she reads this, unless I’ve managed to express what I meant to say correctly.

- Steve

In a few hours, it will be 2008!

Thousands of nudists all across the USA will be celebrating the coming of the new year nude, as we will be doing with 50 or so of our closest nudist friends at our club’s annual New Year’s Eve Party.  I can assure you there is no more pleasant and more fun way to spend the New Year’s Eve night that hanging out and partying with people who never forgot how to relax and have fun, which is what nudists have found.

It’s hard to remember what we ever did on NYE night before we became nudists. Dull evenings with a small group of (clothed) friends, semi-forced together for the night so as not to have to spend it alone at home. Or, worse yet, crammed into a dim hotel ballroom with hundreds of stuffy strangers, listening to a terrible band and jostling elbow-to-elbow on an overcrowded dance floor — and trying not to notice all the sad looks on the faces of the hotel staff who are required to work on a night they’d much rather be home with their families.

Partying nude with fun-loving, friendly, unpretentious folks certainly beats all of that by a wide margin. Best of all, there’s no need to try to shoehorn yourself into a suit or dress for the night!

Whatever you’re doing for NYE tonight, we hope it is a good one, and we wish all the readers of The Nude Life Blog a healthy, happy and nude 2008!

And be sure to check out The Nude Life Forum, where other nudists from around the world are checking in with their New Year’s Eve plans, and share some of your own!

We spent this past Christmas Day at home as we have the last four years, hosting a nude Christmas dinner party for a small group of our nudist friends who, like us, are without family in the area to celebrate with.

The day was most enjoyable. Calm winds and temperatures moderate enough to allow full use of the outdoor hot tub added to the warmth and coziness of the indoors. A dozen-plus fun-loving nudist friends made it even more relaxing, and we shared a wonderful meal and then a fun night of socializing, hot tubbing and visiting.

It’s fair to say that we will really miss the little tradition we have had of a nude Christmas Day with friends over the past few years, if the day ever comes when we won’t be able to enjoy such an occasion. Thankfully, we are looking forward to many more nude Christmas Days (and every other kind of day!) in retirement next year as we move to a nudist resort in Florida. Doubtless every holiday is celebrated there nude, and so what is now a special occasion for us will be “just another day” — or will it?

Did you get a chance to be nude over the Christmas holiday — with friends or without? Join the chat on The Nude Life Forum where nudists from around the world are discussing their nude holidays and their plans for more nude time in 2008!