It is the morning of March 21st, 2024. A Thursday. The last work day in my work week before my ‘weekend’ that consists of Friday and Saturday. In the retail industry, this is pretty much the sweet spot for days off. Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest days of the week, and I get to miss that. It’s one of the reasons I tend to hang on to the job I hate in so many other ways. This particular morning wasn’t supposed to be sunny. They have been calling for rain and miserable for the next week or so, so imagine my surprise when I got up to do a last tidying up of the house I’m house sitting at before they come back tonight, and see sunlight shining in through the window. Well, I says to myself, that’s serendipitous.
The photo above is not from today. Rather, it’s from a September a couple of years ago when I was staying at a little cabin on my Aunt’s property. March and September are pretty similar times of year, however. They can both be utterly pleasant at times, and utterly awful at times, weather wise. When I got out into the sun this morning, with my coffee and my iPad, and thought about making this post, this image came up when I went looking for one to use. It is apropos. Getting ready in the morning with coffee and a look forward to a beautiful day.
Well, That day went differently than today will. That day was indeed beautiful. Hot, sunny and I had nothing to do but sun, kayak and play lawn darts. Today I have to go in to a clown show at my job, where two managers are on vacation, there’s a shortage of staff due to illness (or fatigue, or hatred of their jobs, or apathy, or all of the above), and a boatload of product coming in. I will be set for it from start to finish, but at least it will make the day go more quickly. Once the work day is done, I can look forward to 2 days to myself… but what to do with them?
That has been my quandary lately. While spring is hastening, it still isn’t fully here and my fatigue and disinterest in doing anything at all with my free time that set in over the winter doesn’t seem to want to lift from my head. I can feel a small bit of will tugging at me, but the overwhelming urge to ignore it and just sit in front of my phone or PS5 playing games wins out just about every time. I did briefly start drawing again, as you’ve seen if you follow this blog at all, but it’s in fits and starts and my inspiration is at a low due to a lack of new material to draw from. I’ve tried to put calls out there for volunteers to model or send me material to draw, but society really does seem hell-bent on forcing people to view nudity in negative, perverted or abusive ways. Or, people just don’t trust me, and that’s fine too.
The above drawing is my latest, and is an example of what I find the most wonderful of things to draw. Happy, comfortable, healthy nudity of all ages. Yet, as I’ve lamented before, due to social media, draconian companies like Google running the internet, and conservative forces spreading fear, hate and misinformation, this sort of thing is becoming scarce and taboo… at at time when *I* believe we need it most. There should be no reason whatsoever that healthy body acceptance and choice shouldn’t be a mainstream effort… and yet here we are.
So this morning I sit out in the sun in my own nakedness, happy that I can at least do that. For now. As long as the one wrong type of person doesn’t see me and decide that I’m a problem, even if most people don’t actually care, and campaigns to make it a legal issue…. Because with the way our current world is going? It’s a real possibility. That I can do nothing wrong, but because of ONE person’s uncomfortability, my whole world could come down.
It’s a chance I’ll take though. I feel strongly in my body and being able to enjoy the outdoors in the way nature intended. Every time I do I feel just a little bit better, and that’s important enough to me to stand up to those out there that can’t understand, or won’t. Even if it’s just sitting on a deck on a little Thursday morning before work.