Alternate Title: ReNude Bare Meet!
A word-play is the use of wording (words) to convey a mixed meaning or unusual idea.
Translated Title: Renewed Nude Encounter!
Headline: On this historic date, 3 January, 2009, Jay and Roger first met…
The amicable bonding, camaraderie, companionship, friendship, and trust that was initiated through chance, destiny, fate, spontaneity and “being at the right place at the right time” happened at a gay bar, downtown Washington, D.C., USA, when on this afternoon a SGL nudist oriented social club held a naked cocktail hour social…
Abbreviated version: Today marks the day of the start of our friendship…that began in an atmosphere of excitement and hope! Barack Obama had just been elected as the next president after eight long, boring, dull years of the reign of George II (Bush)! A new year had just arrived and the energetic uplifting of spirits flowed throughout the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area and beyond!
To our knowledge and recollection, Jay and I had never seen one another before this day. This meeting occurred on an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon in January. In a region not noted for unusually warm temperatures during this month. The event was a monthly social nudity “cocktail hour” that rarely attracted the large attendance as it achieved on that particular day. The balmy weather may have impacted the crowd, as the majority arrived wearing T-shirts and shorts before stripping naked!
When I arrived at the bar, I registered and paid my admission fee. The line waiting to enter the ground floor changing room was long, so I decided to use the changing room on the second floor. After stripping and storing my street clothes, I descended the stairs into the bar area. It was packed with wall-to-wall bare men! I noticed one vacant table-for-two in the far corner and that became my goal!
The crowd was elbow-to-elbow (frequently accidental penis-to buttocks)! The friendliest and largest good-natured crowd I’d ever seen at a “naked cocktail” event. Once I’d finally arrived in the corner area, the table-for-two I’d seen from the stairs was occupied by Jay – solo. I wrote him a note explaining my being Deaf and asked if he was sitting alone. He welcomed me to join him and we exchanged first names.
We passed notes back and forth while becoming acquainted. After about an hour, Jay let me know that he took 3 years of American Sign Language (ASL) at university to satisfy his foreign language requirement but his skills were awkward and underused. I encouraged him to renew his experience and soon we were communicating totally manually. His fluency returned quickly and what he couldn’t recall we employed fingerspelling.
The more than three hours that we spent together revealed to us both a substantial “shared interest” in numerous topics, authors, sports, entertainment, etc. Of particular was our similar adaptation and familiarity with nudity in our lives and awareness of our same gender attraction. Before we even finished our bottles of water, the “naked cocktail” happy hour was ending and clothed patrons were arriving. Before we departed to our changing areas, we exchanged email addresses and messaging contacts and vowed to keep connected.
Surprisingly, we both commenced sharing emails that same Saturday evening. Our communication continued several emails per day throughout the following week. We approached the topic of meeting again the next Saturday but were uncertain as to exactly what that day entailed as we each had a previous engagement to attend. Not one that we were comfortable bringing another new friend to include.
The following Saturday arrived with weather the exact opposite – actually, extreme opposite – of the day that we met. It was blustering winds and the outside temperatures hovered at freezing even in the full sun. I ventured to a local bookstore before my early afternoon encounter with friends. While browsing in the aisles of books, several times I passed a man who was vaguely familiar. Each passing we made eye contact but I was unable to identify him. I found a title that interested me and lined up to make my purchase.
In an exchange of emails that evening, one week after we met, Jay mentioned that he was in a bookshop in Arlington and as he was leaving he saw me in line buying a book! All bundled in coats, scarves, gloves and hats, neither of us recognized the other! We’d only interacted together while bare, never while wearing clothes! Now, had we visited the booksellers in our respective nakedness…?
Jay nor I had ever had this “identity-crisis” happen before despite our years of nudity experiences. Nor could we relate to others who shared similar circumstances. Jay remarked that we needed to create and to edit a naked book of world records along the lines of Guinness!
Later, I did inquire how Jay identified me buying a book. He responded that I had removed my knit cap and that he recognized my shaved head! Once we begin to remove our coverings (concealment), familiarity returns! Nude does indeed work as an identification essential!
The proverbial words of wisdom: “clothes make the man” obviously failed in this instance between Jay and myself. Clothes determined only chaos and confusion! Left to our body and clothes freedom preference, I’m quite certain we would not have suffered any confusion regarding having previously met – although the frigid outdoor temperatures would have caused discomfort!
Both Jay and I agree this incident – which helped build our friendship – offers proof that nude is both better and simpler! As ardent bare practitioners, we know the message above extols both reality and honest truth!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, January 6, 2025, and the proposed topic is: “9!”
ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers! 