Hello BB! Well I for one am glad you haven't quit the MB. I was concerned that a lot of the usual posters would be discouraged by the mess the spammer made.



My wife feels the same exact way. "Conservative" postures and "only shoulders touching" while hugging are also her preference. It has to do with "learned modesty"; and pushing herself outside her comfort zone for the sake of displaying "naked confidence" is not really conducive to her personal comfort - at least not for any extended period. And she is still flexible in her "modesty"; as she knows - for example - that her enjoyment of being out on the lake paddleboarding will result in her being more "exposed"; a natural fact she has no issues with (if you paddleboard with your legs closed, you're sure to fall in the water - so it makes no practical sense).

"Naked confidence", IMHO, has more to do with the "energy" projected than the level of "candid exposure" displayed. It's that "energy" that will motivate and inspire shy/newbies; not the fact that all your "nooks and crannies" are right in front of their face.
At least that's my take-away.

Thanks for remembering me. Haven't been on for a while but noticed several people mentioned me or responded to things I posted. Didn't mean to be rude and ignore you. So sorry!

Responding to Nudony's comments about the dating couple who he said "the GF was not ready to be seen nude by a 'bunch of strangers'; and that's fine as the grounds are large enough to 'acclimate' privately," and the married couple about whom he "used to think they were very stand-offish but then I realized the wife was just painfully shy," we've also had great experiences with summer social nudity.

High heat and high humidity make people look for relief, and if people spend lots of time at public pools and home pools, that means more opportunities to suggest they might like to try an all-over tan. In our own home, when it's this hot, wearing T-shirts and jeans, or even a tank top and shorts, just doesn't make sense. This weather makes it easier to suggest to friends who know our preferences not to wear clothes at home that they might like to join us. Nudity just makes so much more sense if it's so hot that we sweat through our clothes, and for those people who successfully overcome their inhibitions and actually try social nudity, "newbies" quickly learn bare bodies are far more comfortable in heat and humidity when our skin can cool itself with sun and breezes as nature intended. A light breeze we might never notice when wearing a sopping wet T-shirt feels just wonderful when it cools us down by whisking away sweat from our foreheads, or even a light sheen of sweat all over our body after exerting ourselves on a day that's too hot to do very much.

Probably our best experience this summer was a twentysomething couple, not long out of college, who recently got engaged. I started out writing something much longer, but worried I'd just bore people by repeating things experienced nudists know very well about what it's like for a young couple in love to struggle with their emotions as they work up the courage to overcome years of being taught bad lessons about false modesty, learn to enjoy being nude together in private, and then move from nervous embarrassment to excited enjoyment as they realize how much fun it is to swim and suntan fully nude on a warm summer day with friends.

The couple, who I'll call "Alicia" and "George," are mutual friends with me and my husband, and Alicia also knows Crissy since she and I have invited Alicia several times to join us for women-only nude swims. Alicia and George studied together at the university we've mentioned in a nearby city, and while they were friends and Alicia had a "crush" on George, they didn't start dating until they graduated and both separately got hired for jobs at the same company in our community, As often happens when casual friends move to a new town and start working in the same workplace, they became much closer friends, and it wasn't long before Alicia started dropping hints she'd welcome George asking her out for a date. Both love swimming, and it only took a few months of dating before George got the courage to invite Alicia to swim in the pool at his apartment complex.

Late last summer when Alicia and I were enjoying lunch at a local restaurant near the two different companies where she and I work, I listened to Alicia, who isn't normally shy but is pretty bashful about her physical attraction for her boyfriend, talk about how much she enjoys swimming with George. Lowering her voice so nobody at nearby tables could hear, she described how much she enjoys showering at George's apartment before using the pool, knowing that while she's naked in his shower, her boyfriend is patiently waiting outside, having already showered and changed into his swim trunks before she arrived. Alicia told me she sometimes dreamed about surprising George by walking out of the bathroom without first putting on her swimsuit, or even about inviting George to undress with her and shower together.

My husband and I encourage Alicia and George in their commitment to "save it for later" by waiting until marriage, so she was extremely surprised when I asked, "Alicia, since you enjoy seeing George so much in his swim trunks, have you considered wearing a bikini rather than a one-piece, or better yet, asking George to join you in your pre-swim shower? He's a guy so I'm sure he enjoys seeing you in your swimsuit even more than you enjoy seeing him. You're fantasizing about walking out of the shower naked and surprising him, and like any guy, he's also excited about what you look like under your swimsuit."

(CONTINUED)