Strange Things Happen When Naturists Put Their Clothes On

I know, it has been a while.  In my defense I don’t actually consider myself a “blogger” and the fact I have not posted since January would stand to support that position. That’s not to say I have not thought about updating recently, I have plenty of new naturist experiences to share, and many more opinions on Naturism to share. Time however has not been my friend. Between work, life, and enjoying Naturism, actually blogging about it was low on the to do list.

This past weekend a fellow naturist (thanks David), shared my blog saying “a blog to inspire” and what do you know, I got inspired. Today also happens to be the first day of a staycation that I plan on using as a full nakation. Aside from driving to/from my standard naturist go to locations (Bare Oaks, Ponderosa, Port Burwell) I don’t intend to wear clothes until I return to work on Sunday. So why not spend some naked time blogging.

Originally this blog was about my life as a single, 30 something guy, who suddenly realized clothes were overrated.  I focused mainly on the experience side of things as a single man in the naturist world as this was the kind of information I was looking for as a type of guidance when I was a newbie nudie but had a hard time finding. Hopefully those who have read my previous posts found them of use. Even if you were not a single 30 something newbie nudie.  While I was not always single during the last few years, however as a naturist I may as well have been. I dated one woman who I successfully introduced to naturism but sadly we were not “compatible” as it were. And then there is my long time platonic friend Tara whom I have mentioned many times however her personal life meant she was……lets say an occasional naturist. So on I went and there I blogged, as a single naturist 90 percent of the time.

Life has a funny way of surprising you though, and this post is more about life than naturism but it all ties together, please bear with me, or should it be bare with me????  Having known Tara since high school and been strictly platonic friends and happy in that status for the better part of two decades, it may shock some, that being a naturist and introducing someone of the opposite sex to naturism and nudism, didn’t have an impact on our friendship. It was never awkward, it never led to any lines crossed, not even at an alcohol fueled “Nude Years Eve”.  I believe it made us even better, closer friends, if that was even possible. I will admit our relationship did take a turn in a new direction this winter but Naturism was not a direct factor other than strengthening the bond we already shared. And while its taken a few paragraphs to get here, this is the main topic for this post.

Tara and I were both guests at destination wedding in the Caribbean this past winter. It was a typical wedding, a close nit group both in terms of the family and friends invited. So

you can imagine when people see the two close friends who both attend single, there are always lots of questions….

Have you ever?

Would you ever?

Why not?

We had been through this a couple of times over the years and it is no big deal. Some were genuinely curious how a man and a woman could be best friends and not a couple (usually the older people), some had their minds in the gutter (usually the younger people). One person asked “Seriously? You’ve never seen each other naked?” and I had to lie to avoid even more complicated questions.  I think we both handled ourselves well, and went on with our lives.

About a week later and back in Canada, we were having dinner with a group of friends for a birthday. Tara and I arrived earlier than anyone else and got talking about the wedding, and the silly questions we were asked. Somewhere along the way before others arrived, we came to the conclusion we needed to have a “talk”. I’d like to tell you where in this conversation the light came on, or what it was that steered us to our enlightenment, but I can't. Somewhere in the short conversation we had decided that maybe we were more than friends and were just to dumb to notice.

Later that night we had a brief “talk” and before we knew it, the next evening we went on our first “date”, dinner and a movie, just us. It was hardly a first date in the typical sense as we spent dinner plotting the baby steps we planned to take. It may seem strange to be so methodical but with so many ways this could have gone wrong, and we had a long established friendship on the line, we didn’t want to risk destroying that.  We took intimacy off the table for the first month at least, and we put our naturist activities together on hold until after that, just in case somehow that was confusing the issue (it was not). Being Canadian winter at the time, this was actually fairly easy. 

Fast forward and here we are, many months later, almost September now. I officially moved into Tara’s home recently, still being methodically cautious we agreed in advance to wait for a short time before renting out my house and will wait at least a year before we decide to put it up for sale. It is at this point I will address what I assume is a question anyone reading this may have. Why am I posting this, it has nothing to do with being a Naturist???? The strange thing about relationships is they should be easy, but they never are, and in a textile world so it is with naturism. Add those together and it can get muddy very fast. We have been friends for so long and never saw it as anything more.  For us, naturism was no different than sharing an interest in movies or sports. We are naturists but naturism alone does not define us. And even though I take credit for introducing Naturism to Tara, when we took the relationship plunge we wanted to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. So yes, we stopped being naturists (together) for a time just as we agreed to delay telling friends or family. I won’t tell you it was the right or wrong decision, it is just what made sense for us at the time. Thankfully it all seems to be working out, we had a great naturist summer together with more to come this week.

It may be that Naturism played some part in us eventually deciding to become a couple, but not directly. It was just another activity we found we both enjoyed. If this was not the case I would have thought we would have figured this out a few years ago as there have been plenty of opportunities rather than while reminiscing about a textile destination wedding to push us in this direction. 

When it comes to naturism, I’ll be honest I am not sure where to go with this blog. As mentioned a few times this started as the experiences from the perspective of a 30 something, single, male, who was new to naturism.  Aside from still being in my 30’s (just barely) none of that is true of me anymore.  There are plenty of blogs, Facebook pages, websites, Twitter feeds, and Instagramers covering naturism from a couples perspective, young and old.  “Naked Wanderings”,Felicity's Blog, and Naturist Living Show are great resources. Another blog may not add much to the conversation but I will try and keep at it for now and I will try not to go another 8 months between posts. As I type this I remember how therapeutic I find sharing here. Hopefully there are some out there that get something from reading this, and if not I am OK with it anyway.

Will O’Canada

@NudeInCanada on Twitter

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