Hello! I have been reading the board for months and have been waiting to join! Thanks for allowing new members.
I was a JW. All of my family on my maternal side still is. My paternal side never was save for a few who went to the meetings on and off. I was baptized as a young teen (13, like many here) and faded in my late teens. Again, like many of the stories I have read here.
For some reason I can't quite put my finger on my JW family still will speak to me and e-mails me regularly.
Overall I have had very similar experiences to many, if not most people here. I grew up in the time when Armageddon was going to happen in 1975 so I was prepared for the Great Tribulation to start and Paradise to begin soon after I was baptized. When it didn't happen I was relieved on one hand but greatly disappointed on the other. (I really wanted to pet a lion~LOL!)
I have come to a basic understanding with my Mother; we have agreed to not discuss religion. I do save her e-mails in a file for the future, just in case she ever decides to leave them.
This religion has caused numerous problems for my family. The shunning, the distrust, the complete nuttiness it seems to bring out in people just has to be experienced to be believed. That is where boards like this are important. Unless you have lived through it and continue to experience it, you just can't understand it.
Thanks again for opening up registration!