"Did you say a nude beach?", I asked incredulously. Looking at my mother's face, I repeated, "a nude beach?" Here was my mother, a partner in a major law firm in San Diego telling me that she was going to a nude beach with my aunt Peg, mother's fraternal twin. As I repeated my question, mother stood in front of me with her hands on her hips, defiantly staring back at me. Although she was only 5'2" tall, mother was an imposing figure to many people. She had several fortune 500 clients that she represented and had argued in the U.S. Supreme Court. She was a pillar of the community, a major political player in our state, and an active member of our church. Now, she was telling me that she was going to a nude beach with her sister Peg.
In many ways, mother was the entire package. She was a smart, pretty, 45-year-old blonde who had a very successful career. Although the years had added a few pounds, she was witty and charming and could hold the attention of any man she met, except of course, my father. Another attorney as well, he had left my mother for his 20-something secretary and had moved to Los Angeles to open a practice catering to the rich and famous. She had been devasted by his revelations and had tried to move on, but she was still pining over his departure.
I was in a similar position, having just had my college girlfriend of three years leave me for a married man. I was at mother's home licking my wounds as well as I hadn't dated anyone since the breakup four months ago. As an only child, I had always been close to my mother, and I could tell that my stay with her had helped her get over her loneliness.
I was not the only person helping mother get over her breakup. My Aunt Peg was working overtime in that regard. A free-spirit brunette to mother's blonde-haired, traditional nature, Aunt Peg had come to mother's rescue in many ways by getting her out of her house and trying to expand mother's social circle. She had tried to introduce mother to several of her male friends, but nothing ever came of those introductions. Mother poured herself into her work to the point that it was all that she had. I had just recently graduated from college and was temporarily staying with her as I searched for an apartment. Both Aunt Peg and I were committed to helping mother overcome her divorce from my father. But Aunt Peg's latest attempt now included a trip to a nude beach. Even for Aunt Peg, the family's wild child, this idea seemed a little out of left field. After all, mother had a reputation to consider. What if word leaked out or worse a picture appeared of mother at the beach? She stood to lose her conservative corporate clients as well as her social and political standing.
At the risk of incurring mother's verbal wrath, I again asked "you are planning to go to a nude beach?" I unconsciously rolled my eyes which perfectly complemented my sarcastic tone. Mother did not react well.
"Don't you dare roll your eyes at me, Mister. And why not? You don't believe I would go to a nude beach?" She had tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. She was prepared to go into full jury mode in her defense.
"Mother, be reasonable. You have a reputation in the legal community to consider, but more importantly, I cannot see you being naked in front of strangers at a beach. For God's sake, mother, have you ever even walked around nude in your own house." Despite her beauty, mother was certainly not an exhibitionist in any form. As I grew up, the closest to public nudity a one-piece bathing suit along with a matching cover-up. That was as revealing that mother had ever been in front of me or anyone else. Somehow, I could not picture mother being nude in any public setting.
"Bobby, just because you haven't seen me nude doesn't mean I haven't. Did me to walk around nude in front of you, my own son?" mother asked skeptically.
I quickly shot back. "No but answer the question. Have you ever even walked around your own house naked, even when there is no one else home?" I knew mother well enough to know the answer.
"Well, no", mother paused for a second, "but that doesn't mean I wouldn't go to a nude beach. Don't think you know me enough to predict everything about me."
"Sorry, mother, I just don't see you headed off to a public nude beach and being naked in front of strangers, especially since you are not even comfortable to walk around your own house naked." I paused and raised my hands as if to ask her to respond.
"Okay, you're right. It's something that I haven't done before, but I think I could." Mother paused again. "Have you ever been to a nude beach?"
I had been once, but I did not wish to confess to mother. I merely responded no. "Well then, Mr. Inquisitor, who are you to lecture me about whether I would go to a nude beach when you have never been? I need to do something different. I'm tired of just being the same old me. For once, I want to be a little risquΓ©, a little dangerous. I have always been afraid of pushing my personal boundaries. I really want to have the courage to simply go to a nude beach."
"So then, mother, you're just going to walk onto a nude beach?" I continued my debate with her. "And you can't even walk around your own house naked?"
"Then what do you suggest?" mother asked.
I thought for a moment and then proposed the following. "Start by just walking around here without your clothes. It's a start."