Episode #40: Overcoming Trauma #40: Oliver and Nancy

Mar,20 2026

<-#39: Overcoming Trauma #39: Sleeping In

I didn't sleep well, not at all... We didn't sleep on a bed, but rather, on an accumulation of sheets.

We ate breakfast with Kelly, since she had our food, but I was shocked to learn that my husband and my kids all slept well.

Am I a princess who is unable to sleep rustically?

Kelly was annoyingly in a great mood, but once I had my coffee, she seemed more bearable.

Victor had a tee time and wanted to invite John over, but my husband would help Luis and Martina, since the plan was to install the kitchen cabinets in our house!

Victor invited me and Kelly, but I declined. I see no point in playing golf without my husband.

Our kids made plans in the pool, and I could understand why. We were in the part of the year when it is comfortable being nude around noon but a little chilly in the morning and almost cold in the evening.

The pool, being heated, is the perfect place to wait for the warmth if you wanted to play sports and not be stuck indoors.

Winter was coming; it was time to benefit from being outside!

Hanna was already in the water with her kids and her husband by the time we made it, after I wished John a great day of hard physical work while his very nude wife hung in the pool. I did whisper that last part only to him...

Hey, I want to keep the passion alive too.

The six kids immediately got into a playing mood, with Darren, Hanna's husband, playing with them with apparently the mindset of a 12-year-old.

I was hypnotized by his behavior. This was a cop who was playing down the way kids play. With the same teasing and laughing that characterize how kids 9 to 12 play.

Nadia didn't play with her kid, and I taught her that. Well, Darren seems to have a few volumes to teach me about playing with your children. Because when I play with my kids, I am still, undoubtedly, their mom.

Darren could play "down" to their level in a fully appropriate way. It was uncanny!

He didn't push the kids, like the kids pushed each other, but he let them push him and would exaggerate the effect, often causing great laughs from the boys.

As a mother, I would always respect the flow of the game, but Darren could present outrage at a fake injustice like the kids did, but without using an adult voice and without mocking them either.

"Nah, you missed me", he could say. "I did not", "You did too" in an exchange with Candace. I would have never attempted that, but it made every child laugh. Including Candace.

To my surprise, we were soon enough joined by Oliver and his wife. They do not have towels, which is an odd sign. I rarely mention towels, but all naturists usually carry a towel.

"Wait, you are a naturist too, Elena?" he said, with absolutely no judgment in his voice.

"It's a recent development. Oliver? This is Hanna and Kelly, two full-time residents of the place, and playing are Darren, Hanna's husband, and our collective kids"

"Nice to meet you; this is my wife, Nancy"

"Howdy everyone. It's such a beautiful day. I love this place. It's so quaint"

"Quaint?" says Hanna, a little ticked off.

Nancy sits on the side of the pool, her bare ass directly on the cement. Oliver sits next to her, both dangling feet in the water.

"I only knew Oliver's family farm as a place to be nude outdoors, so I had very low expectations, but this place is gorgeous!" she says.

"It is", says Kelly.

"So you live here full-time?" Nancy says.

"We each have a house that way. I can show you around if you'd like", says Hanna.

I realize that she might be in sale mode, as she administers the resort.

"I would love that. Wouldn't you love that, Oliver?" she says.

I look at her. There are weird things about her. For one, she is weirdly overweight. Like, her stomach and such have excess fat, but not so much her legs and arms. She also has a lot of pilosity, notably on her arms.

"I would."

"Wait, your parents had a nude farm?" says Kelly, curious.

"No, they have a farm, but my family was usually nude outdoors", Oliver says.

"Imagine my surprise; I go to visit my in-laws for the first time, and everyone is naked! Well, nude. I hear that the proper word"

"It is. And you joined in?" says Kelly, still curious.

"Well, when in Rome, right? Plus, I am always feeling too warm, so this suited me. And since then, well, I never wanted to put clothes back on", she said, laughing.

I try to turn off my brain, but the nurse in me hears symptoms, and I can't just shut that part of my mind down. Sadly, I am not a doctor, so I don't have all the conditions memorized, but this feels hormonal.

Olivier intervened. "Nancy works from home. I think it took three days to realize that she could work in the nude"

"Yeah, about that. Imagine his shock hearing his wife on the phone, wearing only her wireless headset, trying to reassure someone", she says, laughing.

"Well, I was used to it from my family, but I was surprised my wife did it"

I intervened. "Wait, what do you mean, reassure someone?"

"Oh, I work for a phone line trauma helpline. Not the same meaning of trauma as you work with, Elena"

"You know me?"

"Sorry, I briefed her in on Martina, and when I saw you in the pool from afar, I told Nancy I knew you from the trauma team", he explained.

"Right. Well, I mostly work in the trauma room. So, you deal with grief and abuse survivors?" I ask Nancy.

"I do. We have a few phone lines, one for teenagers, another for sexual abuse victims, and so one"

"A suicide hotline too?" I ask.

"Oh no, that's an entirely different service. Not that I don't often have to help people away from suicidal thoughts or ideation, but it's not our core focus. When it's too heavy, we sometimes conference in a specialist"

We talked a little more, while Oliver mostly spoke with Hanna, but I realized something.

I had many conversations by the pool, or in the pool, with other naturist parents, or I should say adults, since Martina isn't a parent yet.

Hanna was relatively new, and we connected well enough. Nancy seemed genuinely nice and open, but the person I was the most comfortable with at this precise moment seemed to be Kelly.

I know; I just had more conversations with her, and I even shared meals with her.

But I wonder if Nadia's fears are not coming true. I wonder if Kelly is not slowly becoming my best friend. Not because I choose to, but because friendship requires effort, and Kelly is nonstop trying to be my friend.

She is planning to share a meat delivery; she offered her house to prepare our food. She is the mother of the two kids who appear to be turning into both of my kids's best friends.

So what is my problem with her? That she is an extremist in her mentality? Perhaps, but she doesn't want to impose it on others.

I think that I know what my biggest problem is. It's Nadia's jealousy.

Just as Nadia was the push that made me try naturism, she is the person who is holding me back from fully joining the group.

And I am also connecting strongly with Nancy. In fact, I connected with everyone at the resort.

I not only cooked with Martina, but she babysat my kids, and her husband is working with mine right now.

Kelly is becoming almost like a sister. I am welcomed to her house as if I were family, and our kids play almost like cousins.

Kara is a little more distant but always positive and in a good mood.

Hanna is perhaps manipulative, at least according to Nadia, but she is such a breath of fresh air every time I meet her, and her husband is just the best with kids.

Wendy is respectful, calm, and emotional in a way I like. She is a fellow nurse who understands what it's like to lose someone you were treating. I could sit with her roasting marshmallows for hours just talking about our former patients.

Even Nancy felt close in a weird, instant connection way.

In fact, the only person with whom I needed to learn to befriend, the only one who ever raised a tone with me, and the only one who talked badly about anyone else is Nadia.

Did I pick the right camp in this war between naturists keeping a textile foothold and those living on the resort just because I didn't want to move to the resort?

Is the fact that I will own a house here making me reconsider my friendships?

Heck, as we look at the progress on the homes and the kitchen counters now in my second kitchen, I question myself as Nancy begs Oliver to buy the 3rd house.

No, I don't question if I want to move in here full time. I don't.

What I question is, is it possible that while Nadia is at war against these full-time families, these families don't see her as an opponent?

Is this dichotomy only in Nadia's mind, and if so, why am I even wondering which camp I am in?

As I see Martina, Kelly, Hanna, and Nancy discuss the benefits of moving in, I finalize a decision.

If keeping Nadia my best friend meant not getting closer to these women, well, it's too high of a price to pay.

Maybe I don't need a best friend.

Maybe I need friends.

And the courage to let our friendship grow.

<-#39: Overcoming Trauma #39: Sleeping In