If you have never been swimming naked or immersed yourself in a hot tub au natural, you don’t know what you’re missing.

I consider myself somewhat of a sophisticated woman having been brought up in New York City, arguably one of the most sophisticated cities in the world.

I enjoy dressing up, color coordinating my wardrobe and using my physical being as a canvas for clothing accessories, jewelry, shoes…especially shoes.  ( I love shoes.  I was a shoe model in my twenties and owned over 150 pair of shoes in all colors and fabrics.  Talk about color coordinating heaven!)

I lived in Paris, Rome, the Middle East and Amsterdam in the early seventies and came back to this country a sophisticated, color-coordinated…hippy.  I loved swimming nude and being in a hot tub nude.  I loved my naked body.  It was, by definition, perfectly proportioned.

Now, my husband believes that if we don’t have to wear clothes, why should we?  At the first sign of warm weather, his clothes vanish.  I prefer bathing suits, shorts and tank tops.  All coordinated with my shoes and accessories, of course.

A year and a half ago, he and I set out to look for our next residence.  We remembered that an old friend of ours used to manage the office at a clothing-optional community in Los Gatos, CA.  She recommended that we come to Lupin to see what was available.  I could sense my husband salivating at the thought of walking, hiking, working, swimming and dining sans clothes.

Previously at nude beaches, hot tubs and private pools with friends, I had felt comfortable being naked.  It was exactly the same at Lupin, except I am different.  Body issues developed as I aged.

But here I am, residing at Lupin Lodge, a clothing-optional resort, dealing with body acceptance.  I have moved from body vanity to the freedom of being nude despite how I feel I look.  Daily, I have the opportunity to cast off my identity with clothes and allow the true beauty of my being to come out and enter into a new relationship with what is natural and real- to be naked.  I get to relish in the experience of allowing the sun to caress every inch of me (and no tan lines!). More importantly, I get to experience the freedom of being with other naked beings, looking them in the eye, without judgment or self-consciousness, no compensating apparel to distract from their essence or mine.  To experience my beauty beyond what is skin deep is freeing and wonderful.

But I am still left with the question…”How do you color coordinate naked?”

Rochelle A