The Beginnings

E ven as a child, I wanted to shed my clothes whenever possible. Sleeping in PJs or underwear was the norm in my houshold, so it is what I was taught to do. As a small child I used to slip out of my sleepwear after I went to bed. It was also as a child that I saw skits on tv about "nudist colonies". I think that it was on shows like Love American Style. I asked my parents about but they just looked uncomfortable, and changed the subject. The obvious conclusion was that the subject was dirty. This was consistant with my conservative religious upbringing. Even so, I continued to be fascinated with being nude. As I got older (hormonal teenager), some of this fascination was surely titilation. I believe that what is hidden from view holds a natural attraction for us. If clothing were not mandatory in our society, I bet that the **** industry would be dead overnight. Of course I am part of the generation that experienced gang showers at school and at the YMCA. From here out I am going to confine my stories to instances of NON-SEXUAL nudity in mixed company. It was at the end of my teenage years that I had my first experience with nudity in a mixed group. Here is that story. It was the year that I graduated from High School. I went immediatly from my graduation to a 10 day intensive training program in small craft and aquatic safety. The school was put on by the Red Cross. Most of the people (like myself) were college students training for summer camp jobs. It was the first 2 weeks in June and the weather should have been glorious, but it was cold and rainy for the entire time that we were there. I was in the small craft instructor program. We were training to be instructors in sailing and canoeing. Because the total emphasis was on waterfront safety, there were frequent lost swimmer drills. During these drills it was the responsibility of the small craft class to search the shallow water. Add this to our regular training, and we were in and out of the water frequently, and often without warning. Since it was too cold to go around in swimming suits, most of us soon ran short of dry clothes. Many of us developed some very uncomfortable rashes. Trips into town were prohibited, but an instructor took pity on us and collected one set of clothes from each of us to a local laundromat, to wash and dry. Sure enough, the very next morning, as we were sitting in class, all warm and dry, the waterfront alarm sounded. We stared at each other in horror, for a split second, when one of the girls in the class exclaimed, "To Heck With It." She then astounded all of us by quickly peeling off all but her panties. As she dashed for the beach, most of us followed suit. (Or should I say suitless?) Try to imagine the startled responses as we searched the swimming area Sans Clothing. When the drill ended we walked to the classroom and dried off before getting dressed again. This scenario was repeated several times throughout the session. By the time the school ended there was only one holdout who chose to remained clothed for the drills. He said that he was just too shy. We never really talked about the situation to any great extent, but we were quite the topic of conversation among the other classes. Nobody ever reprimanded us for our daylight skinnydips. I have often assumed that this was due to the concern over the rashes that we had been getting from wearing wet clothing. I do know that the whole experience changed my view of nudity. I no longer viewed nudity as primarily sexual. We had gone beyond that. Our nudity served a VERY practical purpose, and had no hint of sexuality. After that experience, I went nude whenever I could get away with it. I went on to work at a summer camp. There were several of us (counselors) who went skinnydipping frequently throughout the summer. Out in the bay in front of the camp there was a skijumping ramp. Late at night my friends and I used to swim the quarter mile out to it and slide down it nude. In the middle of the night, we saw no reason to wear swimsuits (and we were better swimmers without them). After that summer ended I didn't have many more experiences with nudity in a group for some time. As I got older, I missed the days of carefree skinnydipping and nonsexual nudity. I found a state park where I could go hiking nude without encountering anyone. These hikes were times of meditation in which I got closer to my Creator by relaxing naked in the midst of his creation. Even so, something was missing. Man is a social being. I missed those innocent nude experiences. Every now and then I would hear about nudists in the news. I even heard news stories about gatherings of Christian nudists. What I never heard was how to find these groups. This went on for a long time until one day when I was in a large bookstore in Lexington KY. I was going through the travel section when I found a copy of the ASA Guide to Nude Recreation. I bought it immediately. It changed my life. In it I found out how to contact people in both landed and non-landed clubs. Since it was wintertime in Indiana, there were no landed clubs open. There was a travel club several hours away that was having swims. I arranged to go to one of them. It was a COLD Saturday when I had my first experience with social nudity. I had to drive several hours from my hometown. I have to admit that I was nervous. I had read a lot of ASA literature, and I had talked quite a bit with the head of the travel club, so I pretty much knew what to expect. We met in a parking lot at a hospital near to the swim. From there we drove to the swimming facility. After paying my admittance fee I went into the mens locker room. It was all very reminiscent of the old days at the YMCA. The big difference was that there were several wives and daughters in the room with the men. I felt like I had come home. We were all undressing and I could feel the barriers dropping. For the next 3 hours I swam and played volleyball, and socialized with a bunch of strangers. It was glorious. The letting down of barriers, and the freedom was something that I have been looking for all of my life. I drove home that night feeling wonderful. The drive seemed to take no time at all. I knew then that I was a lifelong nudist. After that I went to every swim that I could get to, and when warm weather rolled around, I started visiting the landed clubs in Indiana. Although there was nothing closer than 3 hours away, I enjoyed many quiet relaxing weekends. I chose a remote camp in Southern Indiana for its quiet and natural setting. Eventually I switched to a club in Southern Michigan because it was closer and because it was year 'round.