Sarasota woman welcomes naked neighbor

Welcome to Florida

The community came together after Hurricane Irma. It wasn't unusual for neighbors to welcome neighbors without power. It was unusual, though, for a neighbor to welcome a neighbor . . . without clothes.

On the morning of Sept. 13 Melissa Tomasso awoke to just such a sight. A woman, clothed solely with a hand towel, in her backyard.

Tomasso's unexpected guest had come from California to help watch her brother’s house after Hurricane Irma. She had arrived just after midnight and celebrated with a 1 a.m. dip in the pool. No swimsuit. And a locked door behind her.

Afraid and naked, she knocked on the Tomassos' front door, to no avail. But the side door was open to the garage, so she slipped in and fell asleep in the Tomassos' convertible. 

“God bless her,” Tomasso said.

After the sun rose, and hearing Tomasso in the backyard, the woman grabbed a hand towel and headed that way, hoping for help.

Tomasso quickly welcomed the woman into her home and arranged some essentials:  a robe, breakfast, a locksmith. According to Tomasso, she was the perfect guest. She even returned the robe.

“She was that little bright spot in some really dark days,” she said. “You gotta have something to laugh at.”