By Jade Lane, Age 21

Ah, nudists! Over the years I've grown to really enjoy nudists and nudist hangouts in general.

Now, as a young child, closer to infancy, I remember we always made like Tommy from the Rugrats and constantly stripped our clothes off. Our parents ran around the house trying to pick up the articles of clothing as we ran by them, tossing off something else.

As a slightly older child of 7, I had to go through my parents’ divorce, then the awkward decision of trying to figure out who to live with. At first, I lived with my mom for a couple years. I still remember all the different roommates we had living with us – gay, straight, male or female, people from all walks of life. For that I thank her because I grew up being socially well-rounded with many different belief systems and lifestyles around me. One roommate, whom I still have as a good friend in my life, was a gentleman (whom we’ll call George) who practiced nudism. Well, not that you have to "practice being naked" since we all are under our clothes anyway, but those who prefer that lifestyle do tend to shed those outer garments a lot! To his credit, instead of just being naked all the time, he always made sure that it would be okay with all the other roommates including my mom, my sister and I, before he appeared undressed, so that everyone in the house wouldn’t be too bothered when he was "practicing his lifestyle." Of course as a young girl, the sight of a naked man running around the house can be something of a giggle, but because of how I had been brought up, I wasn’t bothered by it. When I wanted to have non-nudist friends over, I would make sure to tell him so in advance and he would immediately go throw on a pair of shorts without a complaint. So the system we had in the household worked just fine.

My mom was very openly enthusiastic about nudity also, as well as all those other taboo subjects that come up awkwardly when you’re a teen when talking with your parents. To her credit, instead of waiting until my sister and I reached our teenager years, she made sure that we knew about different things that go on in other people’s houses, behind closed doors, and even in our home – not that being naked was a huge thing. Mom was a "not everywhere, not all the time" nudist, meaning she liked to hang out at home naked, run around the backyard naked, but not run around a nudist park. Social nudity outdoors with several hundred other people just wasn’t her thing.

It was, however, George’s thing, and he belonged to a local nudist resort and spent most weekends there. I remember asking him about the place and he always answered enthusiastically about it as being nice and a fun place, but I wasn’t quite ready yet. He made a standing invitation for my mom, my sister and I to go whenever we decided it was time, but he would not do so without my mom’s written permission and with everyone's complete knowledge of what the behavior rules were there. Perhaps a year later, my mom and older sister did go with him and enjoyed the experience very much. Unfortunately for me, by then I had moved out and was living with my dad and stepmom and was being raised in a rather sheltered, religious sort of way. This whole nudist thing didn’t seem sinful, but modesty was drilled into my head, so I was less open to the idea of being naked around other people until a few years later when I moved back with my mom.

Then came the "Great Rebellion of Age Fourteen," and one day while hanging out at my mom’s house I finally got the courage to ask George if I could go with him to this nudist resort and see what all the fuss was about. We both made sure it was fine with my mother, and it was, so off we went to the nudist park!

Being the shy, awkward kid I was, I didn't run around tossing my clothes right away. Instead, I think the first few times I secured myself in the pool and rarely left it, except maybe to play a game of backgammon. It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable in the place, because everyone was really nice and supportive. I suppose I played backgammon to avoid staring at people. It's hard not to stare at fifty or so people lounging about like lizards in the sun without a shred of clothing on. Especially when you're fourteen. Of course, when you're fourteen, you also thank the gods for your youth and taut skin.

One thing I know I can thank the nudists for were their parties.

It's uncanny how many parties they throw. I think they sit in front of a calendar saying 'Ok, so Halloween is coming up at the end of the month, then there's Thanksgiving, but damnit! There has to be something in between!" Then they realize there's Election Day (which isn't really something to celebrate these days), Veteran's Day, and Eid Al-Fitr (for all you fasting nudists out there…though they're hard to find). Those days are celebratory enough, so they throw a party and have a lot of food and sit around drinking their cocktails, eating everything in sight (at least I did), and celebrating their nakedness, er, I mean the holiday at hand.

On one such holiday, I can't remember which, they had one very talented member of the resort staff doing body painting on anyone who was interested. Now, if you've never had a paintbrush dragged across your bum, well let me tell you, it tickles! I decided to get up enough courage to have the gentleman paint a dragon from my shoulder to just under my rear. It looked lovely, indeed! Everyone was telling me how awesome it looked on me. I think even a German television crew was there filming the festivities. Those Germans, they'll put anything on television - even a bunch of ol' naked people. But so I pranced around all day, showing off my backside to each adoring onlooker. Subsequently, much of my body shyness dissipated after that day.

After that I made many return visits and then I began looking forward to it practically every weekend, as I had made many friends there of all ages, and enjoyed being able to just lounge about in the sun. I enjoyed it so much, after a few years I quietly started telling some of my friends about it. To my surprise many were interested themselves, and eventually I brought to the resort a girl friend from high school. Later the same year I brought there my boyfriend at the time (even though he proved to be much more religiously repressed than I ever was.) And still later that summer, I brought an Internet friend from Ohio while he visited to share his first day of social nudity with our club members. Over the next few years, I invited quite a few friends to join me at the resort, and all of them wound up having a great experience!

As you can see, this lifestyle is something that now I really enjoy sharing with people I know. As a young woman, I have finally moved out on my own, and I enjoy running around my own house naked whenever I get the chance (and at my mom’s house whenever I return to visit.) I am now proud to say I am a Nudist (with a capital "N"), and I have my mom and her roommate George to thank for it, those many years ago.

That all being said, I think I have some sunning to do. It's a rather lovely day and I've a great balcony that is calling to me.