With the shit going down on this board as of late I'd like to post something really good that happened to me lately. I got my brother JW brother back.
Back in 2001 of this same month I posted about letting JW relatives go because I got tired of the pain of hoping those relationships would be restored when it seemed impossible. I live off the same main road as my JW brother. We were best friends. We got together most weekends to do stuff back then. We went on trips together. We liked doing the same things. More friends than brothers I would say. Our spouses liked each other. Then my enlightenment bulb came on. Shock, outrage on my part for being duped by a cult. JW brother is horrified. I start visiting churches to see how the other half lived. Get turned in to elders by wife. I start blabbing like an apostate on steroids to every JW that crosses my path: family, friends. I can't shut up about what I'm learning I'm so outraged. It seemed each week there was some new deception I uncovered about the Watchtower Society. I end up DAing under pressure. Marriage destroyed. Shunning commences. Big mess. Lose all my JW friends and family. You know the drill.
As the years passed I would see my brother socially every rare once in a while. Once, twice a year if even that. These times were great fun and ended with sadness. It was like, love you, bye, dont' feel comfortable talking to you. A couple of times my brother wept tears saying he hated being separated from his DF'd family. Over time all my sisters left and my brother remained the sole sibling still in the JWs.
At least three times I got so upset over his shunning I said to myself, that's it. I will never reach out to him again. I will never call him again. If he calls me, I won't answer, I won't return his calls, to hell with him. The funny thing is, when I would come to that decision, invariably that's when he would make his yearly call and invite me to go have a beer or something. It was the oddest thing. It was like a sign. Hang in there. He's on his way. It's going to take time. Be patient. Make an occasional call. Reach out every now and then even if you get nothing back. Make of it what you will. That's what happened.
Well, I just got back from having dinner at his house. Everyone in the family was invited. Including my two DF'd sisters and one sister who hasn't attended the meetings in years. My brother came to a decision. It's taken him years but he has decided religion will have nothing to do with him having a relationship with his family. We had such a great time tonight and stayed till midnight. We cooked food, had drinks. He even invited a couple who are baptized JWs but don't attend the meetings anymore. It's like a complete reversal. Much laughter and conversation. We're getting to know his children. My sisters offered to babysit anytime. In my wildest dreams I never would have believed his wife would stand for it but she was very nice and hospitable. This is like a dream come true for me. You could see my brother was happy seeing everyone over at his home. He hugged all of us goodbye. He told one of my sisters he is not shunning us anymore. Man, I'm so happy about this I can hardly type.