Else:
It was kind of funny that when she same around the corner and saw me she froze with the classic “Deer JW in the headlights” look. I smiled and moved forward to shaker her hand and say hello. She was literally “taken aback” and took a step back and shook my hand with a nervous and uneasy look about her. I guess she’d never seen a real live ‘postate before.
You didn't really wear Valis' red 'devil' horns there, didja' ? And, how did you keep your eyes from glowing like they do when you are speaking ? I have trouble controling mine, as you know.
Oh, well. I agree with the others it did sound genuine. Good for you -- good for them. Funerals do have a way of making people face the reality of their mortality -- it's very sobering. It seems like they may have been, at least temporairily, disarmed. It's tough on a persons psyche to keep up that level of hatred for years and years.
In a similar vein: My wife and I were invited to my daughters house recently, imagine my joy in seeing my x-wife (uber-dub) was there, too. A little while later the X's neices come in (I haven't seen them in 7 years) they were my favorites. Their arms went up as soon as they saw me ! They came up -- and hugged me warmly, genuinely. Now I'm not DF/DA'd but, I am soundly marked on my forehead for not attending meetings, I've been accused of apostasy, remarried to an 'unbeliever' and according to the WT I 'committed adultry' by getting married again.
Yet, they treated me warmly and most importantly -- right out in the open.
And it wasn't even a full moon !
It does make you feel good, doesn't it Elsewhere ? Go with the flow.
Rabbit
Edited to add: There was a recent funeral in their family, too.
