Good morning Eolake
Domai continues to be a bright spot in the day. Congratulations on 14 years of being the best website out there!
Your article on money was very well written, to the point, and should become mandatory reading for every high school student!
I'm particularly fond of #8 - Give something back to the world.
About 4 years ago I became involved with what is now the largest non-profit rescue and sanctuary for endangered/exotic birds in the US. I've never been a big fan of charities - especially the "guilt motivator" types - who use most of the donations to pay inflated salaries. This one was different since everybody was an unpaid volunteer including the founder, who supported himself and his wife on his disability check. Former Marine with 18 steel pins in his spine who still goes dawn to dusk caring for what is now over 1000 parrots of all sizes. Every donation went into the rescue operation, and he would care for birds belonging to military personnel while they were serving overseas.
I gradually became one of those unpaid volunteers and have spent almost all of my weekends for the last 4 years out there building new aviaries, feeding, cleaning and sometimes just loving the birds. I had the opportunity to work with a boy with severe autism. He never spoke, just did the feeding or cleaning they told him to do, then sat in a chair and looked at the floor until his mother returned to pick him up. With the help of a particularly intelligent cockatoo named Casper, plus a lot of patience and understanding, over the next 3 years he became our official "tour guide" and would openly greet people with a handshake and make eye contact with them. I was told this was very rare for his type of autism. He also earned the 2nd highest grade on his high school senior project with his presentation about the birds and the rescue.
They moved to Texas last fall but I got a 3 page letter from his father (colonel in the Army) at Christmas thanking us for making such a fantastic change in his son's life.
I've also learned a lot about parrots and people. Dealing with visitors, people who want to adopt and those who tearfully have to place their feathered companion at the shelter for a variety of reasons. I've gotten a great deal of experience in fundraising, especially those who agree but don't follow thru or just outright lie about things.
Financially I've made significant investments in this (#9) and now we have the "Big Boys Tonka Toy Set" with a dump truck, skidsteer, bulldozer and other equipment. It took an outright cash donation last year just to keep the bills paid and the lights on, and I'm about to have to do it again since donations in this economy are slowing to a crawl.
But the good news is I had already achieved your first goal of being debt free. The 2nd goal of "FU" money will handle 3 years since I've been caught by that before. The 401 and other retirement accounts are adequte but won't put me on monthly world cruises. If not for medical insurance, I could retire in a year or 2. The mortgage was fast tracked and paid off 5 years ago. Vehicles and other toys are also paid in full. Credit cards and other bills are on AutoPay. So now I have the freedom to do this as a hobby (and tax deduction - it's a 501c3) so I'm a rare entity in this world of bankrupt couples and overdrawn checking accounts.
This year I'm going to support them by adopting a couple birds. That way they have revenue and I have more feathered companions, who come with tax deductions as long as they live there.
Too bad you're so far away - I think you would enjoy a visit to the 10 acre site. If you ever travel near Augusta, Georgia, be sure to stop by. The 13th annual open house is May 21st this year.
Their website is www.featheredfriendsforever.org which only shows a very small number of residents. Sign up for the newsletter (I'm the editor) which isn't as good as yours, but then it can't have your great pictures. I'd welcome the editorial critique!
Thanks again for enlightening us with both the beauty of women and the wisdom of the world. I'm going to forward your article to a number of friends.
Best regards, C
Dear Domai (Eolake),
My first marriage of more than a dozen years was to a lovely woman, in fact a beautiful woman, but one who surprised me by how “old” she seemed, even in her 20's. I hadn't realized the extent of her modesty, and seeing her “simply nude” was just something of passing in the shower or while getting dressed in the morning, but never something she was comfortable with.
Though unrelated issues led to our splitting, I realized I'd never have a marriage as comfortable as that I'd witnessed growing up, of my parents. Their multiple photo albums were sprinkled with pictures of them naked on a beach, naked on a sailboat with friends, naked at some wilderness lakeshore. None of these were even slightly pornographic, and in fact one barely noticed them interspersed with all the other photos of their various adventures.
As a child I'd done my share of skinny dipping with friends, even occasionally with girls by moonlight, but I longed to have that sense of comfortable freedom I'd seen with my parents. After my divorce I determined it was time to find a place where I could safely be nude, casually enjoy the sun on my skin, and the freedom from a wet and sandy swimsuit. A local family nudist park fit the bill, and I was welcomed.
Shortly thereafter I was faced with a dilema, as I'd met an absolutely wonderful woman and wanted her to try this activity too. I screwed up the courage and invited her to the park. To my incredible relief, on her first visit and within a minute of taking off her shorts and shirt, she said, “I love this! I love the feel of the sun and breeze on my skin.”
And so began our enjoying many, many wonderful days at the park in the company of other comfortably nude people. We've vacationed all over the world at nudist resorts, sailed nude, spent naked days on beaches and reveled in the simple fact that there's nothing quite so pleasant as being happily nude. We don't even pack swimsuits when we go on vacation.
Everywhere we go, there are people new at this, who undress beneath a towel and wait for the moment until they give it a try. It's fun to watch, as they realize it's non-sexual, non-threatening and the best way to put a smile on their faces.
We've seen all shapes, all sizes, and every shade of beautiful. The best thing is seeing the sparkle in the eyes of a naked woman - whether she's walking hand in hand with her husband on a beach or sitting alone reading a book - when she realizes she's in a safe place and is as beautiful as nature intended.
It is this same sparkle, this same smile, this same look of comfort that brings me back to Domai daily to see the simple, happy nudes you feature. As I write this it's below freezing and snowing outside, but your site makes it feel warm for a few wonderful moments.
- Mr. LW
