Out of the mouths of babes. That's the saying. And that's how it finally happened. That's how Brian's parents finally learned the whole story of our intentional preference and practice of nude living and recreation.

It was actually just one babe; our babe; our daughter, Callie. It was the weekend we were celebrating her second birthday. Her first birthday was fun, although I'm sure more fun for us than her. But this year was way different. She was totally aware of what this was all about - her. We had played it up a lot and she was off-the-wall excited. And she is always so excited anyway when her grandparents are coming, because they always stay with us for a day or two when they come and they totally dote on her, their only grandchild (at the time). Spoil her rotten is more like it, but we let the three of them enjoy their precious time together. It's fun and important for all of us to have that extended family togetherness time.

This was Saturday and although we weren't having the party until Sunday, Callie couldn't wait for her Grandma and Grandpa to arrive. We'd tell her that they would be here soon. Then she would run to the door and lookout and ask, "Where Grandma Grandpa? Where Grandma Grandpa?" This was repeated several times. Then finally they pulled in the driveway. We went out to meet them and they were immediately swamped with hugs and kisses as quick as they could get out of their car. As we were helping them unload and then get settled and comfortable inside, we mentioned that we had some important news we wanted to share with them later. But there was too much excitement right then.

Just as we were all starting to settle down in the family room for a visit, we were interrupted with one of our neighbors stopping by. Brian stepped out with him and as I came back in the room and sat down, Callie was just starting to climb up onto the sofa between her Grandma and Grandpa. She was carrying one of her little books. That's not unusual. She loves books and has her favorites. But when I recognized what book it was, my heart nearly leaped into my throat. Why? Because this wasn't just another one of her children's books that she wanted to show Grandma and Grandpa. No, this one was different - a LOT different. This was one that I had made for her, so I knew there was reason for alarm.

You see, I had made her this book following one of our camping trips earlier in the summer - a camping trip to the nudist campground where we are members. And the reason that I made this little book was because it was during this camping trip that we had had a breakthrough with her and a fear of water that she had developed somewhere along the way. I'm not sure where that fear had come from, but up to that point in the summer, she hadn't enjoyed getting in the pool at all. Not even in the shallow end and not even when being held securely by Brian or I. I had always loved the water ever since I could remember and I hated the fact that she seemed to be so afraid of it. Of course, we weren't trying to force anything, but spending time at the pool is just a natural and fun part our time at the campground.

But anyway, on this camping trip we had a major breakthrough. We really weren't doing anything any differently, but all of sudden she did a complete turnaround on how she felt about the water. For whatever reason, the pool was now fun. Playing in the water with Mommy and Daddy was fun. Pretending she was swimming while being held securely by one of us was fun. Jumping off the side into somebody's arms in the pool was fun. Floating in the water in her little floater was fun. Everything to do with water was suddenly FUN! What an unexpected change. From that point on during that weekend, the three of us practically lived in the pool. We wanted to reinforce and encourage her new attitude toward the water. I even tried to teach her to swim a little bit and she was starting to get it.

So, it was a few days after we got home that I decided to make Callie a little picture book to help her remember all the fun we'd had in the pool at the campground. I wanted to encourage her to look forward to swimming again and not revert back to her dislike of the water. The book was wasn't anything fancy, just a small basic binder with pages I created, but because of her new found love of the water, we had taken quite a few pictures that weekend so I printed some of them and added some captions to the pages with her name (she recognizes her name) and made it into a little story all about her. "Callie Likes to Swim" was the title on the front with her picture. She loved it and wanted it read to her over and over.

So now out of the blue, here was this book in her little hands about to be presented to my mother- and father-in-law. Please know that I'm not one to leave things like that just lying around the house. In fact, it occurred to me right then that I hadn't seen it in a while and to this day I have no idea where it might have been misplaced. Under the sofa or a chair maybe? I have no clue. Nor do I know what prompted Callie to find it again right at that inopportune time. But the split-second after my initial panic at seeing the book in her little hands as her grandpa helped her up onto the sofa and sat her between them, I went into damage assessment mode, trying to remember exactly what pictures I had used and what "level of detail" they might contain. I knew they were mostly of her and I in the pool - Brian had taken them. We were nude of course and although we were in the water, clear water in the daytime doesn't hide that fact, and even so, we were closer to the shallow end than the deep end and I knew that in one or two of these I wasn't even below the water.

By now Callie had the book open and was starting to tell the story, pointing and chattering away. "See? I swim! Big poo'! I swim. Mommy swim."

Brian's parents suddenly had an awkward look on their faces as they glanced at each other. Then Brian's dad said to no one in particular, "I don't think we're supposed to see this."

At that moment, I had a sudden clarity of mind. I knew that Brian and I had said that we would tell his parents the whole story about how we lived and that the campground that we had often mentioned was actually a nudist campground. We had already discussed this with Beth, Brian's younger sister, because they knew that she had gone camping with us a few times. She agreed that we would tell them one of these days when the right time presented itself, whether we were all three present or not. So, right time or not, the time was here.

So, in the rapid gathering of those thoughts in that moment, I calmly responded: "No, it actually is OK for you to see that. And we'll talk more about it pretty soon. But right now, Callie would really like to tell you all about her swimming." I hoped I sounded confident, sure of myself, and non-alarmed.

Callie, of course, just turned another page and went right on. "See? I swim wiff Mommy. Big poo'. Camp."

So, there it was. In a few short, simple sentences and the first few pages of her little book, she had pretty much laid out the whole story: our preference for nude living and recreation, the campground, the social aspect. There was even a picture or two of all three of us there. And while Brian had been careful to keep the focus of his picture-taking tightly on us, the person who had kindly taken pictures of the three of us with our camera hadn't been quite so careful and you could tell that there were others there, not to mention the obvious fact that someone was taking the picture.

As Callie was continuing her story to my in-laws, her captive audience, Brian came back in the room. I caught his attention with a glance and silently directed him to the book with my eyes. He understood at once. And with my demeanor, I let him know that there was no need for panic or all-out damage control. Without a word, we were in agreement that this was it. The right time was here - it had found us. Now, it was just a matter of waiting a little while until we could have a discussion. But have the discussion, we would.

* * *

Continued in Part 2

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