
Prologue:
My regular publishing schedule for ReNude Pride is Monday and Friday. Since my back-to-back publication here for “Bottoms-Up! End of December, 2022!” and “Nude New Year, 2023!” I decided to post entry this today, January 3, rather than yesterday.
Background:
January 3, 2009, the day that I first met Jay, who has become a fast and loyal friend of mine! Barack Obama had just been elected as “president-to-be” in November, 2008. This country was desperate for and seriously needed a change in direction, a change in leadership and the promise of hope – and a chance of a future!
On this date, Mr. Obama was just a few brief weeks away from officially assuming his presidency. Everywhere in the Washington, D.C. area, there was an atmosphere of excitement, of fulfillment and a sense of hope, joy and promise. Of kindness and respect. Of decency, honesty and renewal. Those “weapons of mass destruction” were proven false, nonexistent and evaporated into complete fabrication.

Jay:
This was the tone of the atmosphere that existed the day we first met and began our friendship. At that time, there was a local bar (tavern) in downtown Washington, D.C., that on two Saturday afternoons every month (the first and the third) was rented to a local gay men’s social nudity club for “naked happy hour” from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. (also referred to as “naked cocktails”). There exists a very “seedy and sleazy” inference on the choice of “cocktail!” Great minds, descend into the gutter and get to work!
The crowd at the social nude event on that day was wall-to-wall. Before the first hour had passed the doors were locked and the only admittance was only if someone on the inside left. The District of Columbia Fire Marshall had posted an officer at the entrance to physically monitor the situation and the compliance.
Jay was already seated at a table for two, alone, when I saw him from across the lobby. There was an empty chair beside him. I headed in that direction through the mob. When we made eye-contact, I pointed to the chair with a questioning expression on my face. Jay smiled, pulled out the chair and patted the seat with his hands. I nodded, pointed to my right ear and shook my head in a negative manner, conveying to him that I am Deaf. He laughed and using his hands made the fingerspelling for “okay.” We had just given birth to a friendship!
We were both completely naked when we met. We had stripped out of our clothes in different restrooms when we arrived at the bar.

From Then Until Now:
From this date in 2009 onward, Jay and I have forged together a friendship that we both treasure and trust, even after he moved away from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. He witnessed first-hand the beginning of my live-in relationship with my spouse, Aaron, in 2010 and our marriage, five years later. I have watched the growth of his relationship with his partner, Raheem. Last year, he and Raheem were guest authors here on ReNude Pride on a post entry entitled “BRAT!”

This past year, On September 8, 2022, I received a comment here from The Nubian-Ikigai regarding the posted announcement of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Canada, Jamaica and the Head of the Commonwealth. That comment led to email correspondence between Rohan, the Nubian-Ikigai and myself that continues today.
My friendship with Rohan resulted in an interview with him published this past November, 2022, and then with Rohan appearing as a guest author here on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2022! He is now publishing his own blog here and I invite all of you to join me in following his site:
Bare practitioners do indeed make a beneficial and rewarding brotherhood of friends! Discard all your clothes and discover who you can meet today!
Read his lips…

Thank you Jay, Raheem and Rohan, the Nudian-Ikigai, for the exceptional and the extraordinary gift of friendship without the baggage of clothing!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride

Author’s Note: The next post entry for here is planned for Friday, January 6, 2023, and the proposed topic is: “Reciprocity!”
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