Member of the Week -- Swamprat

[LFM2]

This week's Members of the Week is Swamprat. We are glad to have them in the spotlight this week.

Swingers Board interviews are a way for us to get to know each other better. It is a way to acknowledge just how wonderfully varied a community we are. Every Sunday, a new interview will start and the old interview will be locked. Be sure to stop in and get to know them better by asking them every nosy, intimate, personal question you can think of.

Try to ask only one question (or group of questions) per post, to make it easier for the interviewee to answer the questions, and also to allow for others to ask their questions.

Try to keep this thread about the person being interviewed. If you want to comment about things you discover you have in common or just elaborate on a response, pm them and make a new friend or start a new thread about it. This is intended to be a friendly thread, so please don’t ask anything in a purposeful attempt to get a heated debate. Of course, nobody is required to answer a question that they do not want to.

Also, please keep in mind that any answers you post are viewable to complete strangers. There is some risk in that. Again, all questions are optional.

We'll start each interview with a few overview questions to get things started:

Gender (if not a couple):
If a couple, which one primarily posts:
Age(s):
Birthday(s):
Location:
Relationship status:
Swinging for how long?:
Prefer to swing with:
Biggest Pet Peeve:
Brief Intro:
Picture (if you feel comfortable sharing one):
Website (your own or one of your favorites)

[Swamprat]

Hey kids

Gender We are a happily married couple
If a couple, which one primarily posts: I (M) usually posts but my bride follows along.
Age(s): I'm 63 and she is 55 years young
Birthday(s): Oct 1 and Feb 3
Location: Transplanted from Northern New York to North Central North Carolina
Relationship status: Together for 22 years and married for 19
Swinging for how long?: We started exploring approximately 8 months ago
Prefer to swing with: We are a Soft Swap Couple
Biggest Pet Peeve: (M) Being lied to (F) People not respecting my boundries.
Brief Intro: I'm Swamprat, She's MizMarilyn. Together we are Thistle and Shamrock. We're a happily married couple. I'm in my third childhood and she's in her second. We've been nudists for over twenty years and swinging for not quite a year. We Soft Swap and enjoy house parties more that the club scene, and prefer that our playmates are friends with benefits. You can check our profile (THISTLEANDSHAMROCK) on Swing Lifestyle
Picture You can check our picture on Swing Lifestyle
Bring on the questions

[LFM2]

I seen that you had a great first experience in December. Did you have your other on Christmas Day?

Who brought up the idea of trying this swinging thing?

[Swamprat]

Swamprat here. We had a ball at our first house party. Our "leftover" get together on Christmas afternoon was a nice laid back affair with the emphasis on friendship and being with friends for Christmas. we spent the day learning more about our playmates, building trust and becoming more familiar with the lifestyle do's and don'ts
I'm the one who brought up the lifestyle. We talked about it for quite a while and decided to enter the lifestyle slowly and be sure of our footing before moving further. We are walking down this path side by side, holding hands and our heads held high.

[JustAskJulie]

I noticed you said you started exploring about 8 months ago.... but you registered here back in 2005... so what happened in between?

On non-swinger questions - what do you enjoy doing in your leisure time?

[Swamprat]

We spent a lot of time looking and lurking. We read all of the forums and talked and talked. We worked on our communication skills and our intimacy.
We were both in high stress jobs that sapped our strength and we both had health issues that we had to overcome before we moved on.
In our non-swinging life we like diversity. MizMarilyn likes Quilting, reading novels and working in the yard. I am a bagpiper and swim at the Y almost everyday. I also enjoy a very eclectic collection of books. Both of us love to sit nude on our deck and watch the birds and wildlife

[NCfuncouple98]

What kind of books do you like to read?

[Swamprat]

MizMarilyn prefers to read novelists like Anne Rivers Siddon, Debbie Macomber, Maeve Binchy, and Diana Gabaldon. She also has a number of books on Quilts and Quilting and Inspirational Reading
Swamprat has a rather eclectic collection of books. His tastes cover Military, Scottish and Scandinavian History, books on Bagpipes and Bagpipe music, and Polar Exploration. Novelist favorites include Tom Clancy and Dale Brown

[LFM2]

Do you travel? Outside the US? Where is the most romantic place you've ever visited?

[Swamprat]

Hey kids,
We love to travel, but as a couple we have traveled only to Canada. Not because of lack of desire, rather more a lack of funds and time. Earlier in our relationship, things took up our time. Since we started to explore the Lifestyle, we make more time to be together and it has been truly memorable.
The most exciting place that we have ever been to seems to be wherever we are together.
Recently we road tripped down to North West Mississippi, near Tunica. We stayed ta the Shack-Up Inn in Clarksdale. What a Hoot! It was the most fun that we've had with our clothes on in quite a while.

[NCfuncouple98]

What made you move from New York to North Carolina?

How/where did you two meet, and was it love at first sight?

You've been together 22 years. What's your advice to younger couples on what makes a marriage work and last?

[Swamprat]

Oh wow. You guys really want me to think.
On the NY/NC change. In 1992 we were both in healthcare in Syracuse. I worked for the State and they were going through the first of their many financial shortfalls. I didn't look like it it was going to get better anytime soon.
Any the Gulf War I was on and the news reports from places like FT Bragg showed people in Tee shirts standing in front of budding trees and real flowers. In Syracuse we were butt deep to a tall person in blowing and drifting white stuff.
We wrote letters to twelve cities in North Carolina and waited for replies. We were overwhelmed with mail.
We took vacation, Came down to Greensboro for the first time. Interviewed and had a job on day one, a place to live on day two and a day at a nudist camp on day three.
We drove back to Syracuse, packed and never looked back.
Stay tuned for the next episode
THISTLE AND SHAMROCK

[two4youinswva]

You're really in a good area. Only a couple hours to the mountains, and a couple more the other way to the beaches. Used to live in that area way back in the day.

Now for the question: You get to host a dinner party, and can select five people from any period in history to dine with you. Who do you choose?

[Swamprat]

Where did we meet?
We tell people that we met at the nursing home. Actually SHAMROCK was a food service manager for the facility and I was a new hire nurse. I had been working there for several weeks when she came up to the floor as part of her job. We talked for awhile and when I saw her the next day I told her that I had a dream about her....and she was magnificent! We have been together since.
THISTLE AND SHAMROCK

[sweet_tna]

What aspect of the lifestyle to you find most interesting?

=)