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MY HOME NUDISM


[6-25-2000]  As some of you know, I've been trying to figure out lately how to present my nudism to my family and find out if my practice would be accepted around the house.  Well, the opportunity presented itself tonight:

[Last minute note:  yesterday when I was awakened to smoke alarms due to a burning cookbook on the stove, I later said that it was stupid of me to bother putting on my shorts in the event of a fire.  Mom said "so you'd be standing there bare naked?", and I said "well, of course".  This small chat was probably remembered later in this story when she says I didn't used to be like this (i.e. unashamed to be nude).]

After returning home from the video store, I asked if anybody had to get in the "can" (as I call it), because I was going to hop in the shower.  After getting out I was toweling myself off, when the bathroom door flew open.  It was my mother, who forgot I was in there, needing to get in the bathroom.  I was uncovered, just holding the towel at the time.  She let out a yelp, and slammed the bathroom door while apologizing profusely.

She said she forgot I was in there but needed to get in there badly.  I thought she was acting silly, so I walked straight out of there (in the middle of her sentence telling me to wrap a towel around myself) and said "get in there".  I just stood outside the door, continuing to dry off.  When she came out, as when going in, she averted her eyes like I was holding a not-yet-wrapped birthday present.

Later in the kitchen (now wearing shorts), I said her reaction was as if I was holding a severed head.  She again said how she forgot I was in there, and I just said I didn't care [about being seen naked].  I then said that the only reason I was wearing the shorts at the time was because they (my parents) couldn't accept it maturely.  She said that I was "turning into a real nature-boy", and I said it's already been done (I didn't say how long I've enjoyed nudity).  A minute later I said I was most comfortable when not wearing anything, and had been wondering for a while how it would be accepted if I did that around the house.  She said that she could definitely not accept that.  Somewhere along this conversation was how I didn't used to be like this; I said I started thinking for myself [anytime I ever do something differently, it's beyond comprehension for them; are all parents like this?].

I asked why it's so unacceptable, trying to get a logical or sensible answer; the answer was "it's propriety".  Being slightly unfamiliar with that word, I asked what does that mean, but got no answer (I later looked it up to find that it means conformity; they expect me to be a non-thinking conformist).  Instead she starts telling my dad how I'm asking why it would be unacceptable for me to go around naked.  He just said that he couldn't handle all the laughter (an entirely predictable response from him).  She then started saying how nudity is for "pygmy people and African tribes who go around naked all the time".  Pretty much end of discussion now, though I did say that it's their house and I'll respect their rules.

So all in all, I got the exact response that I would have predicted:  mother is dead-set against my nudity with no good argument to back up the objection, dad makes a childish joke about it, and neither can accept it maturely.  I'll just continue to do what I have been doing to enjoy the nudist lifestyle, and perhaps another opportunity will arise to be able to really talk about it.  I'm sure they will be a bit shocked that I've visited nudist resorts, should I tell them that.  Oh well, I'll just wait and see.

MC
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update since then:  9-25-00
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I had forgotten that I wrote this story, and since then I've had a few more conversations to add to the pot.  I forgot to write these down so the memories are fuzzy or missing.  I'll try my best.

As I may have written about before, the gutters on our house get plugged up very easily.  A thin layer of leaves covering the downspout can cause the entire length of gutter to fill up and overflow.  I'd have thought that amount of water would force the leaves down, but it doesn't.  As the water overflows it drops straight down along the foundation of the house and puddles (this waterfall action has dug a trench that catches water).  As it puddles it seeps in through the foundation and into the basement, causing a small flood if it's not caught in time.

[Flashback time...]  I've written someplace about a time back in the summer of '97 when my parents took a 3-week driving vacation down to Florida, giving me the whole house to myself.  I spent this entire time nude, except for when going out into the front yard or driving to the store or something.  One night we had one HELLUVA storm, and sure enough our gutters were plugged.  Our basement was flooding in at least 2 spots, and I was having a hard time keeping up with the wet/dry vac and mops.  I knew I had to do something.  First I went out to the garage to find a hoe, and dug a trench away from the house to drain the water puddle.  I was covered in mud; it would have been SOOO stupid if I gave into clothes-compulsion and wore something!  (It was dark anyway.)  This trench helped some but not a lot, so I decided to go up on the roof, still nude, and clean out the gutters in one of the worst thunderstorms I'd ever seen.  I got up and back down safely, and the problem was solved.  I do remember that the rain felt wonderful!

Back to the present now.  A few times this summer we had storms and rain showers come up quickly, and I had forgotten to check the gutters before it started.  Needless to say, the gutters were plugged and overflowing down to the foundation (parents were home, by the way).  I quietly went up to my room, stripped off, and stepped out onto the front porch roof through my bedroom window.  I figured that even though it was daylight out, the rain was hard enough to conceal or blur any visibility somebody would have of me, and also they'd probably be paying too close attention to the road.  After unplugging the gutters I went back in and toweled off (with the towel I bought for going to the nude resort).  I got dressed and went back downstairs to check the flow of the gutter.  At this point they knew I'd done it but didn't know I was nude at the time; however, they never noticed that my shorts were dry while my hair was soaking wet.

At a later date with a different storm, I had the same story with the gutters.  However, there was one buildup of leaves in a gutter, halfway across a dormer window and I couldn't reach it from the outside.  So instead, when I got back in and toweled off, I went out into our upstairs "hallway" to reach out the window and get the clog from there.  To describe our stairs, they come up from the door in our dining room, to a "landing" where these windows are, and reverses direction to go up another 3 steps.  As I was right here on this landing reaching out the window, my mother opens up the door behind me at the bottom of the stairs!  Seeing my naked butt, she lets out a yelp and closes the door, apologizing profusely because she didn't know I was naked.  [Later proofreading:  I just realized that I used the same descriptions of a yelp and profuse apologizing that I used up above in a different story.  I didn't know that when I wrote it, but that's just the best way to describe it, so I'll leave it like that.]

After I'd cleared the area she called up the stairs, asking if I'd been out doing the gutters nude as well.  My initial reaction was to lie and say, "no, I was wearing shorts".  After about 2 or 3 seconds of thought, I realized I was wrong and stupid to lie; I had no reason to.  So I put on my shorts, marched downstairs, and said, "I'm sick of lying, I was [nude out on the roof].  I don't remember what was said after this, but I think it was something like "that's fine".  After this day there was at least one more occasion where I went out on the roof nude to clean out the gutters in a rainstorm.
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Recently there have been a few other talks about my nudity, but nothing really major.  I have this annoying habit of responding to something nude-related, then quickly changing the subject.  I'm sure it's all part of the years of mental conditioning I had, learning to be uncomfortable with talking about nudity.  It's something I'm going to have to unlearn if I want to talk more openly about this with my family.  However, the other day I actually initiated a small conversation.

A few nights ago I was outdoors enjoying the night air and getting a little exercise, nude of course.  It was a cool night so I wasn't outside very long.  Right when I came in and was closing the back door by the kitchen, my mother comes out of their bedroom and into the kitchen to get some juice.  I had left my shorts in my bedroom, so at this time all I'm carrying is a light and my cordless phone, wearing nothing but shoes.  I knew that if I just walked into the kitchen, it would scare the crap out of my mom to have a person, who happens to be naked, coming into the house at 2:30 AM.  Instead of causing a heart attack, I quietly went down the basement stairs and waited for her to go back to bed.

The next day I figured this would be a good opportunity for discussion.  While helping put away glasses from the dishwasher, I said how it reminded me of the previous night (sound of clinking glasses, similar to getting one out for juice).  I told my story of how at that moment I was standing at the back door wearing nothing but my shoes, and how I didn't want to cause a fright.  The "nude" detail didn't go unnoticed, so she clarified.  I said yes it's true, so she clarified again, was I going outside like that?  I again said yes; she said "hmmm...", and said that "people just don't go outside naked".  I said that it's very comfortable and relaxing [to go outdoors nude], and that wearing nothing is a great way to live.

She suddenly joked, "hey, I know!  You could join a nudist colony!"  I said that they're not called colonies, but called resorts (in retrospect I should have clarified why they don't like to be called colonies).  I said that the thought had crossed my mind but it's very expensive to join as a member (certainly more than I can afford right now).  She said, "been looking into it, eh?"  I said yes, that it was over $300 or maybe $700, I couldn't remember for sure.  The talk pretty much ended here, but later I thought that I should have taken this talk as an opportunity to clear the air about my lies from last summer and tell the truth that I had visited nude resorts rather than spending days on the weekend over at the airport.  I also later thought that I should have told how I'd been going outdoors like that for years.  Oh well, another time....small steps.

Now, some people might be wondering why it's always my mother who I have these conversations with.  I'm not entirely sure, but I'd say that (1) I haven't had similar opportunities to talk to my dad about it; and (2) I think that even if the reaction is shock or non-acceptance, I'll at least be able to have a more open discussion with my mom whereas a talk with my dad would be lined with stupid jokes about it [see above:  dad says he couldn't handle all the laughter].  I haven't talked with my brother about it because I don't think he'd be able to maturely accept it.  While none of them can maturely accept or talk about it, and they all think nudity=sex, I think my brother is like that in extra amounts.  I'll have to see what future talks hold.  While once at a lake with my brother, I told him "I wonder what the reaction would be if somebody around here was skinny-dipping".  He said he wouldn't really care unless there were little kids around, in which case the pervert better put his clothes on [not his exact words I'm sure, but same meaning].  So obviously he thinks nudity=sex and that children who see naked people will be mentally twisted for life.  I really hope I'll be able to someday educate my family about how good and family-oriented naturism is; I have no need to "convert" them to nudists, only educate them on the truth.

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