Fascinating discussion.
I spent months secretly wondering how the hell I was going to get out of this organization with my family intact. Finally asked my wife one day, when she was pissed about something that happened in the congo: What if we just left and never came back? That led to several days of serious "what if?" discussions between us. I gave her the copy of Crisis of Conscience I had ordered and read at work, and she devoured it in a couple of days. After that, the only question was: How (and when) do we leave?
I want to second the motion that the beginning of my "undoing" as a JW was what I saw from the front row at what one poster called "the sausage making." A great analogy. Once you open your eyes and see what this religion is really made of, it's hard to keep consuming the product. I was an elder for 20 years. My eyes were fully opened after 10. It took another 10 years to make my exit. That's how hard it is to untangle yourself and get out alive.