(My 1st post here.....so please bear with me)
It was the summer of 1962, I was in my early 20s then. I had some time off from college then and was home for a few weeks. Sadly my little sister fell sick a few days after my arrival and since I hadn't had what she had it was decided that I should go spend a few weeks with my Aunt Sara until my sister got better and my mother had more time on her hands.
I didn't really mind this at all, in fact I was rather excited about it. As a teenager you are always looking to get away form your parents for a little while and exert some of your own independence; and this seemed a great chance for me to do that.
My Aunt Sara must have been in her late 40s then. Her husband, my uncle, had passed away a long time ago and my cousin Jackie worked up in New York. So my Aunt Sara pretty much lived on her own. They had a lovely house, much bigger than ours with a pool and a small yard at the back. That was 1 of my main reasons for being excited to go, I'd have the whole house practically to myself, no sharing stuff, no waiting in line for showers, no constant noise, it would be great! I liked my aunt as well, she was fun and easy to get along with and since I had never stayed over with her on my own before, that was something else I was looking forward too.
My dad drove me cross-country the next day to Aunt Saras', the drive was dull and by the time we reached there I was dead tired. I felt sorry for my dad who had to drive all the way back that night, the urgency of getting me away from my sick sister had forced him to bring me here mid week, and he had work again tomorrow. Thus began my time at Aunt Saras'. The next few days were just amazing, stayed up late, stayed in bed until noon and did what I liked with the rest of my time, no homework, no studies and no nagging parents.
I loved being there and I could tell my aunt liked having somebody else in the house as well. While we were talking she told me about the swim class she taught 2 times a week in the back yard. I didn't really pay much attention to that fact then but simply said that it was "good" or something of the sort.
It was however a few day later that I actually saw her swim class. I was looking through the upstairs window when I heard voices downstairs and saw a group of about 5-6 boys line up by the pool. They looked a few years younger than me and they were all completely naked. My aunt followed them out dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and began telling them what they were going to practice that evening. I turned away from the window then and quickly left. I was just so shocked, I had never seen people naked like that in the open. Of course I had heard it talked about that a lot of male swim classes were in the nude but I had never really seen 1. I didn't have swimming at my school and whenever I had been swimming in he public pools it was always with trunks. So the sight of seeing half a dozen naked boys in back yard was rather startling.
That night I talked to my aunt about it. She was surprised and almost amused at my astonishment. She told me that it was very common for boys to swim in the nude, in school they were required too and as she was training them for school they had to be nude here too. When I asked her if the situation was embarrassing she said it wasn't at all for her, and that she was used to it. As for the boys, she said that they often found it embarrassing especially with female instructors, but that it was all just part of the training. When they were embarrassed they were less likely to fight or get up to mischief and so their focus was entirely on swimming. She said that it helped them grow comfortable with their bodies and the lack of clothing meant that they could swim better and faster. I asked if the girls swam naked as well and she told me that nobody would ever allow that and that it would be immoral. She said that it was different for boys and girls. Girls needed to protect their modesty while there was really no reason for boys to hide themselves.
