Bare Friendships! Part I

Author’s Note: In celebrating the first anniversary of my return to blogging here, I’m sharing this two-part true account of my friendship with “Jay” (Jason) and how we initially met and became friends. This month marks the anniversary of both the beginning of my friendship with Jay and my return here (January, 2017). 

Sometimes, meeting someone else when the both of you are completely nude (bare, clothes-free or naked) can lead to interesting situations that not only present special challenges but humorous outcomes. The uniqueness of the shared experience often can create a bond between the two individuals that survives issues of both distance and time. Such was the case for my good friend (Jay) and I when we first met on Saturday, January 3, 2009. The fact that we’re still close friends and that the humor involves clothes and two committed bare practitioners (naturists/nudists) makes our relationship even better and stronger.

 Before anyone reading here jumps to any conclusions, Jay and I have never been intimately involved. Our friendship is strictly non-sexual although at different times each one of us desired something more, our timing was never synchronized for any physical or romantic encounter. Please forgive my digression!

The new year of 2009 brought a sense of excitement to the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Even though it was the beginning of that year’s winter, anyone would have thought it was the arrival of springtime after a bitter and harsh winter. There was a vibrant buoyancy to everyone’s step and the air was filled with anticipation and hope. Barack Obama was about to be inaugurated as president and a long-awaited change was just over the horizon.

At that time, there were three different same gender loving male (gay) nudist clubs in our area. One of there groups regularly sponsored a “nude cocktails” event at a downtown Washington bar every first and third Saturday of each month. Technically, the bar was closed to the public but was open to members of the bare club and their guests upon registration and payment of the requisite admission fee, usually $5USD.

Saturday, January 3, dawned with unseasonably and unusually warm outdoor temperatures, a deserved farewell to the outgoing Bush presidency. I remember wearing a pair of fleece shorts and a lightweight cotton sweater as I journeyed to board the subway for the nude cocktails social. I was ecstatic about the fact that I was en route dressed in late spring attire and that I was soon to be in the company of my bare gay brothers for a casual and relaxing afternoon of camaraderie and fun.

I arrived at the bar shortly after the gathering started. I paid my admission and immediately proceeded upstairs to the “stripping room,” removed all my cumbersome clothes and finally felt free. All I had with me was my spiral notebook (I am Deaf) and a pen (for communication). All I wore on my body were my glasses. I went back downstairs to the bar area and was ready to mingle!

I couldn’t believe the sight once I descended the stairs. The place was packed with “wall-to-wall” men with no room to spare, and I mean NO room, whatsoever! Thankfully, we were all dedicated bare practitioners (naturists/nudists) and none of us were clothed. Otherwise, travelling from one side of the room to the other would have been impossible as clothing would have added a new dimension to all of us! As it was, we were all standing hip-to-hip and penis-to-buttocks. I’d never seen a “nude cocktails” gathering as congested as this one!

My first order of business was to locate anyone that I knew and secondary was to find a place to park my buttocks (a seat). I dodged elbows, knees and other attributes of the male anatomy as I made my way from one end of the horseshoe shaped bar to the other staring at faces and a place to sit.

That’s when I spotted Jay, alone at a table for two. An empty seat was directly across from him. Now I had a mission and I was determined to accomplish my goal. I charged through the crowd with only one thought in mind: a seat at a table.

I kept Jay in my eyesight as I made my way over to him. He was very tall, caramel-colored skin tone with a full head of afro-style hair. As I got closer, I noticed a clean-shaven face, a broad nose, full lips and a furry chest. As I approached his table, he stared directly into my eyes and smiled.

I returned his smile while pointing to my ear and shaking my head letting him know that I am Deaf. He nodded his head in understanding and never broke contact with my eyes. I  hastily scribbled a note asking if I could join him. He stood up, pulled out the spare chair and with a sweep of his arm directed me to sit down.

I sat down and immediately found myself at eye-level to his penis. We both burst into laughter simultaneously. The proverbial “ice” was broken. We then proceeded to use my spiral notebook and pen to converse with one another, discussing every topic from politics, nudity, books, authors, photography, food and films. Probably the only subject we didn’t broach at our initial meeting was our being gay.

Neither one of us could believe how similar we both were on almost every issue we managed to cover. Even our favorite books and authors were practically identical, except that he likes Stephen King and I don’t. We both bemoaned the fact that too many men were now “manscaping” (removing or shaving their body hair). We both appreciate men who keep their body hair natural. It was uncanny how a chance meeting had united two different men who shared so much in common.

Our similarities didn’t just stop with favorites, outlook and opinions. During that first encounter, we discovered that we both are identical twins and that we’re both the older one of each pair. The odds of that happening are practically nil. We also learned that we both come from fairly large families (as in numbers of siblings and cousins).

In rapidly sharing both my notebook and pen, both Jay and I lost all sense of time. We were so engrossed in sharing our stories and laughing, that before we knew it, the bar establishment were flicking the lights on and off, signaling that we all had a half-hour to either get dressed and continue partying or to get dressed and leave. The bar always reopened to the general public, all textile (clothes-wearing), promptly at 6:00 p.m.

The second installment of this series is scheduled to publish here next Friday, January 12, 2018. 

Naked hugs!

Roger/ReNude Pride