I got an email the other day from a friend about a photographer named Lucy Hilmer who took a topless picture of herself every year since 1974. I sort of remember reading about it on this forum and indeed it was posted by two4youinswva about a year ago. Some of the photos include her daughter from a baby to a teenager.

It affected me more this time around than when I read the post a year ago. The pictures are beautiful, regardless of how old Hilmer is. I started looking through my own photos. We take a nudist-type holiday at least once a year with my sister's family. Sometimes to a nude beach, sometimes to a nude resort, and sometimes just renting a house with a pool in Hawaii and going skinny dipping. As I looked at these vacation photos again, but this time through the years, I see the changes to my own body. As my niece and nephew develop physically into young adults, gravity seems to take hold of my own body. My sister is worse off after two kids but still look great for her age.

Perhaps it's my mid-life crisis talking, but I got a bit sad about aging. I used to eat whatever I want and not gain any weight. Now I have to watch what I eat and exercise. The comparison is most dramatic in pictures where my niece and I stand side by side. And then something hit me: I take this body for granted. It usually performs flawlessly despite its complexity. Now that I am older, I ache more, my knees crack when I stand up, I get heartburn eating fried foods, my back gets stiff if I don't sleep right. It's no longer that well-tuned machine that doesn't require maintenance.

I try to find some positive though. For one thing, I am now happy I have small boobs. They don't sag and there is less for gravity to take hold of. I was always jealous of my sister's C-cup and she used to make fun of me endlessly in high school. But now I have a comeback: "sure you have a C-cup but mine are not down at my waist!"

I am going to take care of this body. It's the only one I have. And it is beautiful.