Her Naturist Story

My nudist story began way before I was even born.

Both of my parents were naturists. My dad was a Professor of Art at Brandeis University in the 1970’s. During that time he lived in a shared house with other Brandeis faculty. The house was clothing optional, and my dad often chose the option to wear less. He had traveled throughout Europe a few summers and gained a more European perspective when it came to life. He was raised in a conservative Catholic home in Massachusetts, so an exposure to the European way of life was incredible. He described it as “affirming”, it was the refreshing acceptance that he had not had growing up. He fell in love with European cars, motorcycles, coffee, culture, art….and Naturism. Even before Europe he did nude modeling in collage. It was something he had always been drawn to…

My mother grew up in a very conservative Jewish home in Southern California. Her upbringing included a combination of feminist ideals and religious modesty. After graduating from USC she wanted to get away from her family’s influence and moved across the country to attend graduate school at Boston University, graduating with her Ph.D. in Psychology. She loved her new independence and decided to buy a little lakeside cabin on 13 acres in Stow, MA.

What she didn’t know at the time was that a very interesting Art Professor was living across the lake. One winter, my father heard there was a woman who was interested in purchasing a wood burning stove. He decided to walk across the frozen lake to meet her and discuss purchasing wood stoves in bulk. In retrospect, they call that meeting their first date. They talked for hours and it just clicked.

My father’s clothing optional tendancies soon rubbed off on my mother and eventually they decided to move to a warmer climate. They both hated the cold… They found a new home in Coconut Grove, Miami, with a private back yard pool, and a nearby Nude Beach. The one that preceded Haulover Beach. They soon made a number of alternative, hippie, naturist, friends. My parents’ house was popular because of the pool. This was when and where I was born,,, literally,,, in 1980 with a midwife in our clothing optional home in Coconut Grove.

My parents’ alternative bookstore in Miami

I just never liked getting dressed… As a child I used to run away from clothes. The idea of having to get dressed to go out into the world seemed silly. I would delay getting dressed as long as possible and wear as little as possible. Frequently my mom would just give up and bring a dress for me to throw on in the car. That was my world, and all of my childhood friends were the same. They would come over, get undressed, and we would play until it was time for them to go back to their clothing optional homes. Life was good…

When I was 5 years old THE NUDE BEACH CLOSED and my parents were getting tired of the increasing crime waves in Miami. The racial inequalities were upsetting to them, and they desired a safer environment in which to raise me. They started looking elsewhere for a Clothing Optional Community. They visited multiple Clothing Optional Resorts and Communities around Florida. In Miami my parents had an Alternative Bookstore, one of the books in stock was a book about The Missosukee Land Co-Op. The author described it as a Clothing Optional, Family Friendly Community. So of course they had to go check it out! When i was five and a half they decided to move to Tallahassee, FL, which offered The Co-Op that was clothing optional at the time. Nearby was an alternative school named Grassroots Free School where I attended and where my mom taught for 15 years…

My parents’ friends were all alternative and mostly nudists. So growing up we attended Women’s and Family Retreats, Sweat Lodges, Swimming in Sink Holes, Camping, etc. all Clothing Optional. I grew up with lots of Music, Singing, Vegetarians, Vegans, Raw Food Diets, Organic Gardening, Homeopathy, Reiki, Massage, Acupuncture in an artistic open-minded community, etc. People hardly ever went to a doctor (unless stitches where needed). My neighborhood was so safe that nobody locked their doors, most people didn’t even have keys. We were free to play anywhere on the land and if we ever needed help we could go to anybody’s house and feel safe. If we were hungry we could just go knock on any door and they would feed us. It wasn’t until I enrolled in public school for the first time in middle school that I learned the rest of the world wasn’t like this...

I used to be jealous of “the normal world” and some of my “in town” friends had things like cable TV, nearby grocery stores and restaurants, junk food, MTV, Nintendos, candy, etc. But now, with hindsight, I had an exceptionally unusual upbringing and that’s ok wit me. Though sheltered, it was extremely healthy and protected. From my parents and my community I learned to see the world differently, and to feel confident creating what didn’t exist but needed to exist. That mentality has helped me in life, it has given me an eye for potential in growing community, projects and evaluating and developing real estate. I always need a creative outlet,,, or two…

As an adult, I took a hiatus from social nudism, though I still didn’t like to wear much at home. When it’s hot it just seems silly. This was largely in part to being married to someone who grew up in a very conservative home and was not comfortable with the idea of casual nudity. Fast forward 20 years, 2 kids, and 1 divorce later, I was free to make my own path again. I found myself in a place where I was able to create whatever life I wanted for myself and my two incredible boys... I was able to finally paint my front door Dancing Green. My life was somewhat of a clean slate that I had control over what i created. I wanted to add back the best things, the things that made my heart happy. I was able to rediscover “me”. It was the first time I had my own space as an adult. I could decorate my house how I wanted, and wear whatever I wanted, or be as naked as I wanted without any questioning or judgement. I felt free,,, and it felt good...

Dating was a terrifying concept to me,,, something that was completely foreign. I was in uncharted territory, since I had been with my ex since I was 16 years old. But, “luck favors the bold”, so I jumped into the bottomless pool of online dating. Dear god! What a dark murky swimming hole that was. It was definitely an eyeopening experience. It was equal parts discovering what I wanted in my life, mixed with discovering what I absolutely wanted to avoid like the plague. In some ways, dating is a mirror, and I was trying to figure out who I was…not as a “mom”, not as a “wife”, but as the adult version of me. Believe me, I met plenty of the “wrong people”, but each had a lesson to teach me,,, so i just kept learning…

Fast forward a few years later and I found myself on a first date chatting with some guy I met off a dating app called Bumble. I despised swiping apps,,, seemed like an impossible way to meet “the right person”. But,,, after years of protest my friends convinced me to give it a try (THANKS Dave & Beth)… My week and a half experience was so good it got me off ALL dating sights, who knew! It felt surreal to finally experience a date that didn’t feel like a job interview. The amount that we had “in common” was beyond uncanny, crazy and a statistical impossibility. Big things and small things, like Single Parenthood, Water Sports, Surfing for him and Paddle Boarding for me, Vegetarianism, Nudism and Sesame Sticks... Needless to say, it was a miracle so when he proposed on our one year anniversary i didn’t even let him finish asking before I said YES… I married him 7 months later... But, “The Story of Us” is another story. Literally. Go check it out…!