Naked

Going back in time a bit, right after Cindy and I were married, before we had kids, before we opened our marriage, before Mary was more than a friend; we went to a beach party with friends. To everybody’s shock not long after we arrived, other people arrived at the beach and proceeded to take off all their clothes.

Our friends all commented to each other about how awful it was for people to be running around naked in public, perhaps we did too. I can’t remember. I do remember us talking a lot about it on the way home from the party. We liked the idea. The next weekend we went back and got naked ourselves.

I took wonderful photos of Cindy running naked in the surf and sitting on the beach. She was a lovely 18 year-old woman and I took photos for an art photography class I was taking. I still have those photos.

Public nudity, naturism, being a nudist totally changed our lives in a good way and continues to be a great thing for me almost 40 years later. I shed my irrational jealousy of Cindy wearing short skirts in public and started a thread of body acceptance that still serves me well.

I still love the feeling of the sun on my body and the wind blowing across my body. I think there is also a primal bonding that goes on around and among people who gather together with no barriers between them. But, that’s a subject for another post.

Was naturism the gateway drug to open marriage? Is that the reason we have met so many lifestyle people at naturist resorts? Or, is an open enough attitude that allows for public nudity the same kind of openness that is required to even consider a non-monogamous lifestyle?