A summer to remember

This happened in the late-sixties in the state of Rhode Island.

I am fully aware that this happened a long time ago and some of the details are fading

or even failing me. But I have relived these events so many times in my memory that they are

almost burnt in.

I am writing this down to the best of my recollection, before it will fade even more:

My family was not exactly a nudist family. We never went to any nudist resort or met with other nudists.

But we had a nice house with a totally secluded backyard and a very large deck with a good size pool suitable do do some laps.

Around that pool we were “clothing optional”.

My sister is two years younger than I and as long as I can remember we were in the pool as often as we could and we

always were naked – why would we have worn anything?

When my parents used the pool they also tended to be in the nude.

No big deal.

Frequently we would have parties in the house and at the pool, friends or business. On these occasions though, everybody,

including the kids had to be in proper attire.

I don’t remember any discussion about that house rule, but that was how it was.

I loved swimming and diving and when I was six, my parents let me join the local swim club. This club was not a YMCA

where supposedly everybody had to swim in the nude. Nevertheless in the shower and locker rooms we boys were naked.a

When – many years later – I started to develop my more manly features, I realized that I did have a nice looking body.

I don’t remember that I was ever embarrassed to be seen naked. I always was proud of my well toned muscular swimmer’s

body and my well sized (and uncircumcised) privates.

I am not sure if this was due to my open upbringing at home or to a slight exhibitionistic streak that I realize I do have.

Anyway, life went on pretty normal until the day that my father was killed in a car accident when I was ten.

My mother was devastated, became very withdrawn and never married again. For us children of course it was also something

we barely understood at that time. There also never were any more adult guests or parties at the house.

Nevertheless life went on and my sister and I still were enjoying the pool that my mother kept up solely for us kids

by hiring a pool service. My father had enjoyed a very good salary at Raytheon so my mother – who was also working part time – was

not really hurting at this point. (She switched to full time a couple of years later).

When my sister began developing first some small breast buds and then a noticeable streak of pubic hair, I of course was watching it curiously.

Unfortunately she did become self-conscious about it and started to wear a swimsuit. I might have teased her about it, but that was it,

I never saw her naked again.

But I – except when we kids had friends over – kept swimming in the nude. My mother never commented on it, after all my parents had started

us into the backyard nakedness and it never seemed to be an issue for my sister to be around me in the pool or on he deck.

Maybe she did not care at all, maybe she enjoyed seeing me naked or maybe she even was proud of her good-looking brother, which could

explain what happened some years later, in THAT summer – when I was almost fifteen…

School was out for the summer and one afternoon I was enjoying myself in the pool as usual when my sister came out onto the deck in her swim suit

with another girl in tow. My sister waved at me with a big smile.

They looked around and then laid down on the lounge chairs right where the ladder of the pool was situated.

That was very confusing and had never happened before. She should have told me that she would bring somebody over.

Of course I probably could have “escaped” out of the other side of the pool, or asked my sister for my towel, but then I suddenly sensed that they

were waiting for me. They were waiting to see if I would chicken out or come out.

I hesitated and kept swimming for a while. They were still sitting at the same spot, talking. aa

OK then… why not. I was naked around my sister all the time. This was a challenge and an invitation at the same time.

When I climbed up the ladder and out of the pool as casually as I could, I saw the jaw of the other girl drop.

She tried to keep talking to my sister but had a hard time not to stare too bluntly.

I walked up to them – full frontal nudity – and said hello, which caused her jaw to drop even more. My sister introduced us but the poor

girl barely could speak a word.

I proceeded to get myself something to drink and when I came back laid down on another lounge chair close to them, making sure she had a good line of sight.

I pretended to read some magazine but out of the corner of my eye I could see that the girl just could not stop peeking at my private parts enjoying the sun.

At some time I felt that that was causing me to get an ever so slight erection so I went back in the pool to swim a bit.

Soon I was back outside on my lounge chair.

Later, my sister struck up some conversation between us and the girl got a little bit more relaxed while still keeping her eyes on me as much as she could

without being too obvious.

That went on for an hour or so before they said good bye and left. The girl definitely got her share of good views that afternoon.

I was exited but did not really know what had happened there. The house rule had been broken but I did not put my sister on the spot.

And then, just a few days later, the situation repeated itself. Only this time my sister arrived with a different friend.

A week later she came with two other girls, then three.

This continued to happen all summer long pretty much every week or even more frequent. There were new visitors, there were repeat visitors.

It would be impossible to come up with an exact number, even back then, but there must have been upward of 20, 25 different girls that rotated

through our backyard. I never knew my sister had that many friends.

Sometimes they just would sit and talk, sometimes they would bring their swim suits and pretend they were there to swim with my sister.

But it was always the same scheme: They came out to the pool while I was swimming.

My sister and I never talked about what was going on but pretty soon it became a secret, unspoken contract: I don’t remember the exact phrase

anymore but she would say something like “On Thursday I’ll be home”.

I made sure that I was in the pool on Thursday at about 3PM and and they would show up shortly after that.

As I said before, I do have an exhibitionist streak. I became more bold and after a few times I found myself being naked without the slightest concern

around a group of girls most of which I had never seen before.

I always made sure that everybody got a really good close-up male anatomy lesson of me diving into the pool, laying in a lounge chair reading, or just

casually talking to them. Sometimes, some more adventurous girls would even join some ball games, a pool chicken fight or otherwise horse around with me.

Never though did any of them, even the most easy-going, daring or inquisitive ones dare to go topless, not to mention going totaly naked.

While I was probably secretly wishing or that, I’m sure it would have posed a totally new challenge for me.

It was all very relaxed and natural.

Unfortunately our short summer season ended much too early and by the next year my mother had decided to move to a much smaller house…

without a pool – which really made me sad for a long time. But probably the big house did get too expensive for her after all.

As I mentioned, back then my sister and I never talked about what was going on.

Only 40+ years later did it finally come up and it turned out that she became a very popular girl in her school that summer.

(This was not the same school I attended).

Of course, the girls in her age then were getting interested in boys and she had mentioned to her friends that she was seeing her older

brother naked pretty much every day.

Her friends could not believe her (some very possibly were also just plain interested to get a peek), so she started to bring them over.

Word spread and soon she had a waiting list of the friends’ friends who also wanted to get a live lesson in male anatomy.

Now, my sister and I had a good laugh about it. She should have taken money for it.

And most amazing: I also learned that our mother knew about and quietly condoned it. (Unfortunately I was not able anymore to ask her about

her reasoning).

And there was never any backlash from other people, school or parents – my sister and friends must have kept it a very good secret or it was too

unbelievable to be followed up on. Or maybe somebody did approach my mother and my mother said “So what? Nobody is forced to come to our place”.

(I can hear her saying that). But I have no idea what really happened.

……

These were good and simpler times, nowadays unrealistic (or worse) internet porn is probably the first thing girls (and boys) see of the other sex

– in this country.

Afterword:

You might have some misgivings about me being an “Exhibitionist” but first I was a boy then and secondly I did not jump in front of anybody to shock

or scare them.

I feel I almost provided a service to all these girls who got a totally natural and unthreatening introduction. (That’s how Sex-ED should be.)

I did not become a criminal or sex-offender and was happily married for a long time.

I still like to be naked and my wife liked it too.

Unfortunately I never had kids but I surely would have encouraged them to be naked as much and long as possible.

I wish that our handling of nudity was much more casual – like it is in most of Europe. Seeing naked bodies in every size and shape would possibly

reduce body image anxiety in our kids growing up. I don’t know if there are any serious studies about this.

It would be interesting to see what these girls would say now about their experience back then (if they even remember) and if it affected their lives

positively, negatively or not at all.

Unfortunately, I will never know.

JS

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