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Naked Ladies

This time of year it’s the season of the Naked Ladies. The beautiful bright pink lily flowers catch the eye, they appear in bunches on tall stems once their green foliage has died back. So they are naked? Forty years ago being new to this country, I did not understand why this name. But American culture is very prudish and at the same time sex-obsessed. So maybe it does make sense to call this flamboyant plant a name that fulfills fantasies, like wishing for naked ladies :)

I did not grow up with the sea close by, so the first time – still very new to America – friends took me to Ocean Beach, I took off my clothes and naked jumped into the waves. Oohh, the water was so cold! But more surprising was the upset of my friends, urging me to put my dress back on immediately! I wondered what was wrong – the beach seemed so empty. Shivering, I laughed. My English was not very good at the time, but finally I surrendered and clothed myself, my skin still wet. “Somebody will call the police on you, on us,” they tried to explain over and over again. It was hard for me to understand that they were not joking – but the problem was not only my language deficit.

In the middle of Munich, near where I was born, in the so-called English Garden, in summer people of all ages lie in the grass to sun themselves, walk around, share meals – all naked. No big deal, only tourists notice. And I grew up with a father who would take us, on the few weekends he was not working, on a car ride ”into the blue” as he called it, somewhere unknown where we could hopefully discover a nice lake, have a picnic. We kids loved these adventurous outings. Always first thing, my father would jump naked into the lake, with us following in pure delight. Up to this day, whenever I visit and seek out a lake, I try to find a stretch on its shore where I can just slip out of my clothes and right into the water, and then after swimming, right back into clothed existence. If with friends or family, they will wait for me patiently, enjoying the setting.

Now it’s August and the Naked Ladies are out again, making me chuckle. And I am glad the friends from forty years ago were so upset. Later I understood how serious this issue is, and that I needed to know, because if by myself, I could have gotten arrested in my naivety. 

Naked ladies in America. Naked Ladies abound. 


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