A couple of days ago, I was in a discussion with a co-worker about writing endeavors. She was telling me about a young adult book she was in the process of writing. I write as well. I do poetry, short stories, and oh yeah…a blog. Her tale brought to memory a story I was in the process of writing when I was in the 7th or 8th grade. I had gotten deep into the plot when I left the spiral bound notebook on a church pew while on an out of town visit with family over the summer. My mom had no idea of what this notebook meant to me. I begged her to turn the car around but this didnt happen. My story was lost and there was no reproducing it. I didnt have a backup on a disk somewhere. Nobody even had personal computers then and I no longer had a heart to do it again.
What was interesting about this book was the storyline I had developed at that age. I am probably around 11 turning 12 since it was the summer. First, recall in my letter to Domai.com titled “A Soldier’s Story“. In it, I recollect the moment when I first became aware that there was indeed a difference between sex and nudity and how I was able to see the nude female form from a totally different perspective. Well, I may have to retract that statement. My co-worker brought to memory my scripted imagination of a world of another dimension where clothes were not a concern, fashion, or lawful requirement. In a sense, it follows the same idea as the Chronicles of Narnia, but in my story, two young boys and a girl find their way to another world where everyone is nude.
As I recall, I expounded upon the difficulties of the boy’s inability to become used to the ideas of being around naked girls as well as seeing grown up women nude for the first time. The story goes into how they finally adjust. Therefore, I could surmise that I had the subconscious mindset of [a sort of] understanding about the difference between nudity and sex even then. I just hadn’t aquired the needed practical experience to deal with it. Maybe that’s why I was able to point out in my letter that the girls I talked to were suprised at my ability to adjust so quickly.
Maybe…maybe not. Its still good to learn something about yourself. Enjoy these portraits of my friend, Katherine. We did these last year in the Black Canyons, Colorado. You can see a few more of her images on my site.