My real encounters with nudists didn’t wait until I was a teacher to occur. I went to the University of Iowa for a Master’s Degree in order to satisfy all the requirements for a teaching certificate.
While there, it was not only at the hippie-dippie daycare center where I changed diapers, and the very liberal parents were happy about their children’s backyard skinny-dipping in the blow-up pool while being chased around naked by adults with a hose to spray them with, but also in the efficiency apartment where I shared a kitchen and bathroom with an honest-to-god nudist.
Ned never explained to me about being a nudist, but whenever he watched my television in my half of the efficiency apartment, he came right on in without a stitch of clothing on. I was a little shocked. But I got used to the fact that any time he was in the apartment, he was naked. He explained to me about spending the summers at a nudist resort in Mexico with his family. He lived naked every single moment that he didn’t spend in public where nakedness was illegal.
He was the one who explained to me how the polite thing for a nudist to do was to carry around a towel to sit on when he visited my bedroom and used my chair to watch TV while I sat on the bed. He didn’t do much of that because he wasn’t wild about wasting time watching TV. But when we played chess, or just talked about life, the universe, and everything, he was always in his birthday suit.
I got used to the idea that there were actually people who were mentally healthy and otherwise normal who also inhabited our world feeling that I was the abnormal one being averse to being naked in the company of others.
Ned’s girlfriend, when she came over, was never naked. She did tell me she thought he was a little nutty on the subject of naturism, but she also mentioned that he was really good-looking that way because he lifted weights and had body-builder muscles. And she agreed to pose naked for me at his insistence because I had told him about having an anatomy drawing class at Iowa State. She didn’t seem to be shy about nakedness either, although that is based on only the one incident. She seemed much more at peace with Ned’s naked habits than I was. And I got the distinct impression that she loved him enough to convert to his way of life when they got married.
So, I did learn a lot about nudism, naturism, and nudists by living with one for two semesters of grad school. Now, I know I promised to tell the very embarrassing story of the clothing-optional apartment complex in Austin that I mentioned in Part Two. But I will get to that. Maybe in the Part-4 post if I don’t let my mind wander again like I did in this post.
Catch a Falling Star 