Nature Photography

Now in my late teens, I had a new camera to try out and I wanted to venture into the woods to find plants or natural features as my subjects to practice the lessons I’d learned about focus, exposure, and composition technique. So leaving home, taking the road down the hill, across a much busier road, to the campground. As I ventured only a few yards beyond the road, into the woods, traffic faded to a whisper. I passed a few vacant cabins from this seldom-used campground and shortly left all trace of human construction behind. Finally, I was totally surrounded by nature. It was sweltering hot and humid. I needed no further incentive; off came everything I owned; I even set aside my shoes. I kept my camera however, because I was finding beautiful ferns and lush herbaceous plants on the forest floor.

Without my clothing, I was definitely better able to concentrate on my photography.

However, here in the deepest part of the forest, there wasn’t the slightest breeze, the humidity couldn’t be higher and I was working up quite a sweat from the walking too.

Suddenly I came upon a sparkling clear creek and this discovery couldn’t have come at a better time. I set the camera safely aside on the creek bank and waded right in and bathed until I was half convinced that I was a salamander. Then, I wandered along down the creek, exploring more and more in the thick undergrowth. But the sameness was an illusion; looking closer, each plant took on its own identity and purpose. It was not merely a tangle, but a web of life, ever so complicated and each one beautiful. My nature study and budding naturism were the perfect complement to one another. I was already thinking about botany and ecology as a major when I went off to college the following year.

I made my way back to my clothes and I looked on them with total disinterest. I was a creature of the forest and these bits of fabric, leather and canvas were some artifacts from an alien world that had no value in the forest world. But I had to go to that alien world, so I put the clothes on, looped my camera strap over my shoulder and hiked back home, a changed man. I was wearing clothes again, back in the suburbs again, but a spirit of wilderness was rekindled within me, a spirit that once lived fully in all my ancestors through the ages until a few generations ago. But weak and flickering though it may be in this present age, the flame of nature is never totally extinguished from humanity, it can be wakened.

Taking Adventure to New Heights

Then came college, a new life in a new town, closer to mountains and forest than my old home. I was here to study and work hard, but this new home also presented opportunities for outdoor adventure far greater than the patches of woodland back home could offer.

The semester started while the weather was still hot and sunny. On weekends, I began exploring the trails leading out beyond the edge of the campus. Each day, I wandered further into the woods, trying each trail to see where it led. One day, I followed the longest trail until it faded into oblivion, a tangle of vines and shrubs. But this didn’t stop me! This scout needed no trails; I would travel by dead reckoning. Though the humidity was not as oppressive as mid-summer; in early September, temperatures were still quite hot. Since I was alone, just as I did in the woods close to home, I left my clothes by the base of a massive oak and hiked naked for miles, wandering farther and farther from my clothes.

At a gap in the ridge, there was a deep and wide creek with soggy ground on both sides of the deep calm water. Had I been wearing clothes, I would have had to turn back right then, but the human body in its natural state is ready-made for wading and swimming. I plunged right in and crossed as I pleased; the creek water ran off my body and I was dry in a few minutes.

I continued beyond the creek, working my way up the side of a ridge, then dropping back to the flood plain of the creek, pressing deep through bamboo thickets. On higher ground, I entered groves of oak and hickory and I stopped to bask in the afternoon sun. I knew that I needed vitamin D to last me through the winter and I was glad that I had a private sunny spot on the hillside where every square inch of skin could catch the remaining sunlight of autumn.

The memory of these nude rambles are precious to me, sustaining me whenever I press my way through crowded city sidewalks, shivering through cold days and endless winter rain. Nothing could take those moments from me, each new moment of nudity in nature was now part of my essence.

Mom and Dad Were on a Journey Too

My parents were embarking on a journey of their own while I was off at college.

One day, Mom told me that she and Dad had been to a nudist resort with one of Dad’s old friends. I was unable to believe what I was hearing, shocked that they would do this. I simply couldn’t continue the conversation. I had seen both of them naked as a child, seen Dad naked every night of my life at their home, but for some unexplained reason, I winced at the thought of them taking the next obvious step and trying a day of nudity among friends in a safe setting. For all my experience with nude ramblings, I still had a lot to learn about nudism.

Advice from an Older Friend

The warmth and sunshine of autumn gave way to a particularly cold winter that year.

One winter evening, halfway through my freshman year, I got an invitation from Janet, an upperclassman, to come visit her. She was elected as our fraternity “sweetheart”, a member of a sister sorority who attended many of our social events. Janet asked me over for a cup of hot cocoa. I was thrilled and gladly accepted. Everyone on campus adored her.

As we settled down at the table with our cocoa, the chill of the night became a distant memory. Sensing that I was shy, she got me to open up,

“Rick, you mentioned that you are a biology major, so what will you do with your degree when you graduate?” she inquired.

I replied, “I want to be a natural scientist, maybe a field biologist.” Janet smiled and said, “Well then, you MUST go on the spring field trip to the coast. It is open to any student, but it is mostly for the benefit of biology students. I went last spring and I am not even a biology major, but it changed my life.

“You will be on an island that is covered by a thick forest of oak and palm trees and you’ll see salt marshes here and there. And then there’s the BEACH! Beautiful white sand, palm trees along the shore, sea birds and No People anywhere! While I was there, I wandered alone to the beach and so help me, I felt the presence of God in a way I have never experienced”.

Janet explained, “It was as if I had stumbled upon the very shores of Eden.” Hesitating a bit, she added, “I wanted to throw aside all my clothes and run with the wind down the beach as far as I had strength to run. I felt in harmony with God and nature”.

Then she blushed, and said apologetically, “I am not saying you should actually do that, it probably wouldn’t be right, but still I can’t deny the feeling that I had come to a place that was so sacred that...” She hesitated again. “…wearing clothing was somehow inappropriate here, maybe even wrong. But I am sorry to even suggest such a thing”.

I assured her, “Janet, first of all, what you just told me will remain a secret, just between the two of us.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Secondly, I don’t think less of you for what you just said. I do need to give it a lot of thought, but in any case, I really look up to you”.

And I wasn’t just saying that to make her feel better. She was the sweetest, most beautiful girl I had ever met and my heart raced inside me whenever she turned to smile at me. As a college freshman, I was still socially inept, very shy around girls, but in the quiet of her dorm room, Janet’s warmth and candor helped those walls of apprehension begin to come down.

I didn’t dare tell her about my skinny dipping and naked rambles. That was still a deep secret, but I knew that she was a kindred spirit and that my naturist rambles were not a path leading to sin. Instead God had been right by my side all along, and even using friends unwittingly to guide me further along this journey. Yes, God was using Janet to speak to me, without her even knowing it.

When I went walking nude in the woods and home and the woods beyond our college campus, I felt a closer connection to nature, but I didn’t totally comprehend what Janet had been trying to say about the sanctity of nudity in a holy place. Would this beach still be a holy place when I get there? I hope so!

Putting the Idea to a Test

Finally, in late May my turn to visit the island had come.

This subtropical island was a full day’s travel from our campus. We traveled all night to get there, not reaching the coast until the sun was rising in the east.

One of those days on the island was particularly memorable. I am including a short excerpt from the journal I kept of that journey:

Saturday morning, I crawled out of my tent into a thick wet blanket of fog. It encompassed the entire marsh and had invaded our part of the island. Even though we were above the high tide line, we were still very much under the influence of the moisture from the sea. Later in the morning, the fog parted and then vanished altogether. Above us was a cloudless blue sky. We are on a continental island, anchored just a few miles offshore of the massive North American continent, which also has enormous influence on the island's weather.

I decided to hike to Campground Beach. A small party was ahead of me, heading for the same destination, but I was alone for most of my hike. When I entered the forest beyond the first causeway, a long black snake that had been resting in the middle of the road, suddenly fled like the crack of a whip as soon as it saw me. Deeper in the woods three young black pigs abandoned their rootings to scurry away from me. I saw no sow, but these piglets were so young that I felt sure that she was not far away. Rounding a bend in the road, I walked into the middle a herd of donkeys. They backed cautiously away from me as I approached. I looked back to see one of them following me for a short while, keeping a few paces behind.

I struck out on my own from Campground Beach, heading for Palmetto Beach. I was struck by the primitive beauty of this solitary beach. The wind clattered in the palms, a small herd of donkeys stood in the surf to my north.

I don't know what Janet did during her visit, but I left my clothes in a heap on the dry sand and ran naked into the surf, more alive and aware of God's presence than I had ever been.

I’ll continue with the journal entry:

In a grassy field not more than thirty feet beyond the last white sand dune, lay a shallow pool of dark brown water, clean but stained with tannins from the oaks of the island. The water was warm and fresh, no more than four inches deep at its center, about four feet in diameter. The pool was apparently temporary since the same type of grass grew below the water as one could find all around on dry land. Despite its transient nature, the little pool teemed with fairy shrimp, mosquito larvae and other barely visible organisms. I briefly became one of the creatures of the pool myself, taking a few minutes to wash off the salt and sand from my body before putting my clothes back on. I am impressed by the wide variety of small habitats there are on this island, each with their own distinctive flora and fauna.

As I walked back to camp, I took a wrong turn but found my way back by dead reckoning from the sun. Anne, our lab instructor scolded me just a bit for walking alone, but everyone else was more lenient with me. I was tired, hungry and thirsty, glad to be "home".

Although I had been rambling around naked in nature before this, something new was accomplished. Running wild and free as Adam on this wilderness beach was as primeval and divine an experience as I had ever had. It crossed yet another threshold for me.

Just as my solitary skinny dipping was boosting my confidence and building my love of going natural in nature, events in my everyday life were shaping my outlook on nudity.

Help Wanted

Mom and Dad paid my tuition, but asked me to take care of textbooks, personal expenses and car care.

So I was always doing odd jobs on and off campus.

One day, I saw a help-wanted notice in the student center for nude models for the art department.

They had a life drawing class and were looking for both men and women.

Knowing that it was for educational purposes and nothing off-color, I thought it would probably be okay, but just to make sure, I called the pastor of the church I had been attending here in my college town.

I was half-prepared to be scolded, but instead he laughed and said, "Why, this is a remarkable coincidence! A few years ago, my own son was a nude model for the art department while he was enrolled. It might be a bit embarrassing for you at first, but as you gain experience with modeling and comfort with nudity, it would be a wonderful contribution to the arts, nothing immoral about it."

I replied, "Thank you for helping me think my way through this!"

The next day, I went to work at the grocery store and talked to Andy, one of the cashiers. I already knew that he was a Christian and he seemed to be open-minded, and also serious about his faith.

Andy said, "I actually did model for them for a while. I was glad to make the money, but to be honest with you, my heart wasn't quite right about it and I quit. I was getting my jollys from it. While I don't want to say it would be the same for everyone, it was the wrong job for me."

Well, I had a lot to think over. I knew that I wasn't considering this for some exhibitionistic pleasure and yes, it is important for most art students to have nude models to paint or sculpt. What would be in it for me? Well, the money of course. But also, I wanted to stretch my comfort zone with non-sexual nudity, as one facet of overall growth in self-confidence.

But all things considered, I could not anticipate being comfortable as the only nude person in a room, with all eyes fixed on me. “Then again,” I reasoned, “people go into new jobs nervous in the first week or so.”

Although I did not apply for the job, just the process of thinking through the issue helped stretch me as a person. Both my pastor and Andy spoke freely about the pros and cons of nude modeling and to this day I appreciate their honest opinions.

Showering with the Gang

Back from college for the summer, I was thrilled to reunite with all my old friends from our former youth group. They had been attending local colleges or had simply entered the workforce and I had a lot of catching up to do. We had a new pastor and there were a couple of new single girls whom I was looking forward to meet.

A few weeks after my trip to the coast, it was time for our annual church summer retreat. About 20 young adults and a few of our singles leaders piled into the bus for a three-hour ride to Camp Pinebark, one of our denomination's older, but much beloved campgrounds. Although the camp was way out in the country, we were far from bored. There was a lake, canoes, hiking trails, an archery range and even a small mountain to climb in this otherwise gentle terrain. Several of us were musically gifted and led everyone in praise songs. Some of us put on skits (I was involved in that). We had a particularly talented guest speaker and our pastor and his wife were along to help us cover new ground spiritually.

So that was the big picture, but I'll also share one additional thing probably more of interest to Sunny's readers. We awoke the first morning to take a shower and discovered that there was a single showerhead in the middle of the big shower room, a gang-style shower in other words. There were a few hooks for towels on the wall, but no changing room nor stalls.

This was no time for bashfulness; you just hung up your towel on one of the hooks, grabbed your soap and shampoo and said hello to all your neighbors in the middle of the room. I imagine the girls had a similar setup, but I did not inquire.

A few minutes into my shower, in walks another naked guy. For just a moment I failed to recognize him, but it was our pastor, without even his glasses on.

He seemed very jovial as he asked, "Hey guys! Did you leave me any hot water?"

"Not enough to scald you, Pastor Hughes!" one of us said in total jest. There was plenty of hot water for all.

I don't know why we were surprised to see him, but pastors take showers too. A couple of us chuckled, but it was really not such a big deal after a moment of surprise.

This is a very conservative congregation, but among the guys, nudity had nothing to do with being conservative. It was just how you cleaned up for a new day, open shower room or not.

Our culture doesn't mix the sexes in the showers, but in some parts of Europe, even that would be nothing remarkable, nor indecent. Decency is a state of mind.

Jessica!

Entering my junior year in college, my shyness ebbing, I began dating more than I had back in my freshman or sophomore years.

In particular, I met a freshman girl named Jessica. She had a charming giggle and a mind like a steel trap. My shyness with girls was still hampering my attempts to socialize. I never could keep a conversation going. But with Jessica, I could open up and share my heart. Her dreams and whimsical imaginations fascinated me. Every night we talked about great ideas, flights of fancy, and our own lives until exhaustion drove us each back to our dormitory beds.

As we began dating, we sometimes would walk together deep in the woods. One warm day, with a smirk, she suddenly tossed off her blouse and bra and ran laughing into the trees. Amused, enchanted, I gave chase, not sure if she was a girl or a wood sprite or a bit of both. I was transfixed by her beauty, delighted by her wild laughter and freedom.

This was a gesture on her part that was both playful and a show of trust. She knew that I accepted her, body and soul and she felt free with me in the woods that day.

This relationship did not lead to marriage, but Jessica was my first “steady girl”, at least for a time. There was love and a heart connection that made me a better person. We both had a lot of growing up to do, particularly me, but yet again, I was venturing into new territory and gaining personal confidence.

The next year, Jessica and her family moved far away. Our dating was over, but I wasn’t done with college; I was not done learning about nudity and nature, nor had I stopped meeting wonderful people.

Lake and River Journey

My first experience with mixed gender nudity came when I was 20 years old. I was enrolled in a summer field biology class. It was a pilot class and there were only two of us: a woman named Linda, age 19, and myself. We were camped by the shore of a lake. Here's an excerpt from my journal:

This evening, after the weekend boaters left, the jar flies resumed their song and were soon joined by a screech owl.

Linda returned from beyond the camp with a smile; she had been in a tree stand and had seen three does.

Darkness fell and I was sitting next to the fire, idly poking at the embers. Linda suggested that we go for a swim. I wasn't yet tired and it sounded like fun. I jumped up and said, "I'll go get my towel and be right down". Heading toward my campsite, I passed our instructor, who seemed to be close to drifting off to sleep in his sleeping bag. I made my way back down the hill approaching the Rock. As I stopped to take off my shoes, I saw Linda's silhouette against the light of a haze-shrouded crescent moon. The silhouette suddenly disappeared and I heard a brief splash as she dived into the inky waters of the cove. A few seconds later, I climbed carefully to the top of the Rock, hesitating over the edge because I was leaping in near total darkness. I leaped out well beyond the Rock, falling feet-first into the cove. I continued falling down below the surface of the lake, and popped back up momentarily. I looked toward the center of the cove and saw Linda's head in the dim light. I swam out toward her. She cautioned me, “No closer! I’m not wearing any clothes”. I laughed and admitted that I wasn't wearing anything either. Since we were swimming in near total darkness and our bodies were hidden by the water, there was nothing to see anyway. We lingered out in the cove, leaning our heads back to see the stars above. Here on this lake far from the city lights, it was if the heavens had opened wide to reveal the beauty of the night sky in a way I could never have seen at home. We spoke softly to avoid breaking the peaceful spirit of the evening. We swam slowly to the Rock. Linda asked me to turn my face away, adding, "No peeking!" I did as she asked and when she gave the word, I climbed up on the Rock too and managed to find my towel. It was so dark that I couldn't see if she was peeking at me, so I suppose she couldn't see anything even if she had wanted to. Wrapped up in our towels we walked up to the ebbing fire and talked a little longer.

So my first time skinny dipping with a girl happened under full cover of darkness, yet it was a bold step for me: intimate, yet innocent. I was honored to share such a night with her.

Someone asked me if I found it too tempting to be naked with her. It was exhilarating, to be truthful, but each of us had our heart set on someone else and that may have served to keep passions at bay.

A few days later, we were well downstream from the lake and I was in bad need of a bath. Linda was eating lunch on a fallen tree trunk. Lacking any shrubs or rocks between me and her, I had no privacy for a bath, so I asked her to please ignore me for a moment of bathing and I walked 50 yards upstream. I was hoping to keep my shorts dry, so I took them off while I was still in shallow water, held them high in one hand as I walked into deeper water to bathe with my other hand. Well, I slipped on a muddy patch and fell backward with a huge “kersplash”! I emerged with wet body, wet shorts and not a shred of dignity left. Linda turned to see what had transpired and couldn’t repress her laughter at the sight of me. I held onto my shorts with my left hand to keep them from floating away and hastily finished soaping and rinsing with my right hand. I slipped my soaked shorts back on under water and sheepishly rejoined her for lunch. She was smirking broadly as she finished her sandwich.

This episode fell far short of “sexy skinny dipping”, only involved one nude person and a very amused witness, but it was in broad daylight in mixed company, so I see it as yet another milestone. Even though it meant the joke was on me, I was the better for it.

My Friend Liz Stirring up a Controversy

Back on campus the next fall…

The cafeteria was the center of campus life and where I often learned the most about life and human nature.

Liz was one of the cutest girls on campus. She looked good, remarkably attractive, but her cuteness flowed from her mischievous personality. Sweet and quiet, she loved to toss out something startling and a second or two later, everyone would look up from their mashed potatoes and say, “What did she just say?”

The weekend prior I had explored a cave with my buddies Marshall, Joel and his girlfriend Paula. I began sharing this story with the other girls at the table, when Liz joined us. I paused to say “Hello!” and quickly brought her into the conversation. I always enjoy her rather different perspective on things, so I was waiting for her to add her quirky spin on things. She didn’t disappoint me.

Wrapping up the story, I added, “The cave was fun to explore, but we got back to Joel’s house, our clothes were so muddy that we risked tracking mud onto his carpet or bathroom. So we decided to undress in the yard, strip down to underpants and take a shower one at a time. Of course Paula undressed on the other side of the house from us. Anyway, those clothes were so caked in mud, we finally had to throw them away and ride back to campus in our spare clothes”.

Finally Liz couldn’t contain herself any longer, “Why didn’t you explore that cave without wearing any clothes and then afterward, you would only have needed a few minutes to rinse off your bodies in the shower and your clothes would be clean and dry, waiting for you?”

Two of the girls at the table exclaimed, “Liz!”, and nothing more, simply too shocked to say another word.

Liz just smiled slyly and said, “I’m just being practical!”

I was a little too befuddled to reply at first, but finally found my voice, “Well, this cave was a little chilly for that, but maybe exploring a cave in the tropics, it might be more convenient.”

Then one of the girls said, “Nobody is seeing me naked!” And the other girl nodded in agreement.

Liz was still grinning.

Marla is a Nudist? Gasp!

I continued to meet people in the cafeteria who marched to a different drummer.

On another day, I took a seat at the cafeteria next to two girls having a very animated conversation. Their excitement was about Marla, some new girl who came to campus. One girl pointed her out to me and Marla looked normal enough, so I asked, "Why the whispering?" The girls replied, "She's a nudist!" Then a brief pause, a sigh and they added, "That is just so weird!" I took a discrete look, but there was nothing to indicate that she wasn't someone just like you or I. She had long pretty hair, a sweet smile and a stack of books in a backpack.

This whole nudist world seemed like some alternate universe, some place I longed for but was also a bit unnerved by the thought of it.

I met Marla alone a few days later. I don't think Marla noticed me the day I was sitting with her critics and got an earful of gossip, so our encounter a few days later was totally unrelated.

The day I met her I was sitting alone at a table in the college cafeteria. I felt so unsociable that afternoon. I worked a couple of part-time jobs and going to school nearly full-time. Some people can budget their time well and juggle all this. I was not doing a good job of it. I felt really alone that day and saw no easy way out of my academic and money problems.

Marla seems to have picked up on my mood and she sat down with me at the table, even though I was a perfect stranger. I was a bit sullen at first and that was so unlike me. But she didn't take offense and she got me to opening up in a few minutes.

And no, the subject of nudism did not come up. I had no reason to doubt that the girls were wrong about her. "Why would someone make up a criticism like that?" I reasoned. But even though I had serious misgivings about "nudists" whatever that was, I was intrigued by her. I wanted to find out what she was like in other ways. I deliberately stayed off the subject and just let her do most of the talking.

And Marla didn't see fit to bring up the subject of nudism. In hindsight, I have no way of knowing if she had become more circumspect about it in the face of criticism or if she simply had other things to discuss that day.

I was a little disappointed that nudism didn't come up in our conversation, but I was reasonably pleased to learn that the first nudist I ever met was, well, NORMAL! She was a little friendlier and more compassionate than average, but that's the only real distinction I can think of.

Marla was personable, but I didn't feel the kind of chemistry between us that would have led me to ask for her number. My tight schedule was such that our paths didn't cross again except from a distance.

The first warm spring day I did see her off in the distance, sitting out on the grassy commons taking in a little sun. "Aha!” I thought. “Everyone knows that nudists like the sun!"

She was wearing culotte-type shorts, but they were not especially short. She had a pretty blouse and it was not open more than any other girl's blouse was that day. Nothing lewd or tacky about her! I just got the impression that she liked basking outdoors on a spring day.

Musing to myself, “What was I expecting? Nudity on the campus green?

“No, I guess that was a silly thought. Let’s say she actually is a nudist. So what? She's a normal girl with a philosophy that I don't quite understand, but then again could it be that a nudist’s life is not too far off from what I practiced in secluded places in the woods?”

I lost track of Marla, but I will never forget how quick some people were to judge her and realized how wrong about her I had been as well. But my mind was opening to the possibilities.

Marla had taken a risk in opening up to one of her schoolmates about her involvement in nudism. In this particular case, she betrayed Marla’s trust and had started gossiping about her, but without occasionally taking someone into our confidence, we risk the greater loss of not being able to share a meaningful part of our life. Without people that we can trust and confide in, our world shrinks to a cramped and lonely existence. Who wants to merely exist?

A Picture Can be Worth a Thousand Words

Sometimes I find a photo that presents a concept so compelling that it shouts to me, “This could be you!” One day I found a huge encyclopedia in the campus library with a page on nudism. It showed a group of young people on a California beach; all were naked. In the photo, a few naked college age girls were walking toward the shore and a guy was sitting with a strategically-placed guitar, but implicitly naked otherwise. The message was clear: this stuff may be rare, but somewhere in the US, there are beaches where large numbers of people are swimming, sunbathing, walking, building sandcastles just like anywhere else, but the only difference is: none of them are wearing a thing!

And equally obvious to me: I should be in that picture!

Carla – A Friend Who Inspired Me

Not long after meeting the campus "nudist", I came to have a girlfriend, Carla. She was not really a steady sweetheart, but someone whom I took out more weekends than not.

I found Carla very attractive; she had a little snub nose, pouty lips and a really curvy figure. But far more fascinating: I loved her independent way of thinking. She was a devoted student of the Bible, we’d met in a Christian club on campus, but Carla was certainly not uptight and prudish like some of the girls I’d met.

As we dated she told me that she had plans to go overseas as soon as she graduated, “...so getting serious is not an option”, she warned. But as we got better acquainted, there was a mutual attraction. Sometimes at the end of some of our dates, I could see a tenderness coming into her eyes as we said goodnight. I whispered, “I love you.” She leaned into my ear to the point her breath tickled and whispered back, “Love you!” and hurried out of the car seat back to her house without looking back.

One night we went to a dance and were having a lot of fun keeping time to the bouncy rhythms. The last dance suddenly went slow and romantic. I was being a gentleman and keeping a few inches of space between my body and hers, but she smiled a sweet smile and closed that gap! I could feel her body brushing tenderly against my chest and I knew we had crossed a line she had originally not planned to cross. Neither of us said a thing about that last dance. But she I and both knew it had happened.

One day when we were sitting by ourselves, she began telling me about a family trip to Florida. “My family and I went to Canaveral National Seashore, down to Apollo Beach to be more exact. We got out from our car, went down the wooden steps to the beach. We turned south and must have gone several miles when we finally saw a gathering of people in the distance. As we got closer, we could see that everyone was totally naked! These were happy families playing in the surf and sand. Kids were building sandcastles, couples lying in the sun or playing in the surf. All of us reacted the same way: We were charmed! It was so innocent and natural to see people spending a day this way in the sunshine”.

She waited for my reaction. Finally, I managed to say, “Well, um, er, wow! Okay, I agree that, um, what they did is certainly not sinful and in fact, it seems like what God had in mind for people when he first created us. And yes, I guess it is still a good thing,” I stammered.

Carla leaned closer and said softly, “Well, would this be something you’d like to try with me this summer right after school is out? Maybe before we both get summer jobs?”

My mind was racing a thousand miles a minute; what to do, what to do?

Thinking to myself, “Hmm...a trip to Florida, just the two of us, sounds very, very romantic, and I am really falling head over heels for Carla, but she’s determined to leave town after that. I can’t take this!”

And my gosh! Seeing Carla naked at the beach? She takes my breath away when she’s dressed head to toe in jeans and a sweatshirt and I would be seeing all of her? And then there’s that matter of how will we work out overnight lodging on such a long road trip? I know that God can give me strength, but this is almost too romantic a getaway for me. Carla and I had agreed right from the start: ‘chastity before marriage’ and we aren’t even supposed to be courting!”

I didn’t turn down her invitation, but I was completely unable to convert her suggestion into concrete plans either. I let the invitation sit there unanswered.

So we each found summer jobs and by late summer Carla did go overseas just as she had planned. I could see it all coming, but I was still heartbroken all summer.

What a girl! Carla had the courage to invite me spend the day at a nude beach with her. That took courage and trust and I admire her for both.

So where was my courage? As close as we were, there was no reason I should not have really opened up about everything I was thinking: our relationship, our growing intimacy, my worries about being naked together at the beach all day, all of those concerns should have been on the table, right out in the open. I guess I still had more growing up to do! It can be painful as we wait for maturity to arrive! I do believe I would handle such things differently today!

Even though we didn't actually go through with it, she challenged me to consider the possibility that a day of nudity at the beach was not only not immoral, but was actually a positive wholesome thing that was missing from our lives, something good we should pursue!

Carla was yet another person with a big idea who enriched my life.

So eventually, Carla was out of the picture, but life goes on.

Sending off for a Brochure

I was still in college and needed to change my living situation. Thinking I’d enjoy an apartment rather than the dorm, I moved across from campus into a four-room suite. It was cheap, crowded and we had little privacy. But I had achieved my goal of living close to campus.

One of my suitemates, Eric, moved out shortly after I arrived, taking our numbers down to three guys for a while.

A local newspaper posted a classified ad for a nudist resort in the mountains just north of us. The Internet was not fully commercialized like it is today, so all they provided was a postal mailing address. By this point, I sincerely wanted to learn more about nudist places, so I decided to write, but I had zero privacy: everyone in our apartment had one shared mailbox in the parking lot. One of our suitemates, Dan, was one of the biggest busybodies I have ever met. I wanted to discretely look into nudism without him finding out.

Since Eric had just moved out, I wrote to the resort using Eric’s name, requesting a brochure. The plan was to grab the mail before Dan had a chance to and then read the nudist brochure in private.

My plan totally backfired on me! Dan had beat me to the mailbox the day the brochure arrived and he was laughing and laughing, saying, “Old Eric was a pervert! Thank God he moved out of this place!” I asked him, “You opened his mail?” Dan replied, “Yeah, I did! That nudist camp is just down the road from my house, I recognized their address.”

After he had had his laughs, Dan left the brochure out on our common table for a couple of days. Ginger, one of our more sociable neighbors came over, read the brochure and her eyes bugged out, she was so excited to read about this place. That very weekend, Ginger and her boyfriend went there. Upon her return, she told the entire apartment complex how great it was. I was insanely jealous of Ginger. Man, I wish I had gone there like she did! Later I learned that they limit solo male visitation, but I still could have gone if I phoned ahead.

END - Part 2

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