Hello everybody! Been a while, long while indeed, since i last posted here but I just had to share an interesting
observation my wife and I made last Sunday. Before I do that though, for anyone that remembers any of my previous posts and the stress i was under a year ago, a lot has changed! Been married for a year come Feb. 17th, and it is going fine, my wife and I both have a part time job together thats close by our house, and enough coming in to pay the bills with a little help from S.S. Mother, who we had been taking care of for years, reached a stage in her Alzheimers where it became impossible to care for her at home and my J.W. sister had her put in a private nursing home. By that time she was totally unresponsive and sadly passed on in her sleep about 6 months ago. She had been a Witness for around 45 years. There was no memorial service and i have mixed feelings about that. Anyway, there are no more J. W. 's other than my Sister in my life now and things are going great. Sorry for the rambling, on to the point. My wifes cousin and his wife, both in their 70's recently returned from missionary work in Australia. He is a lifelong Baptist, nice guy, but a little pushy in wanting my wife and I to go to his church. We both enjoy quiet Sunday mornings, coffee and the internet rather than jumping in the car to head somewhere to listen to Hellfire Sermons. But last Saturday I finally gave in and promised him that we would meet him at his church the next day. First time I have been in a regular church since around the age of 10, all my experience has been with Kingdom Halls. When we arrived the people were friendly, dressed in jeans, or casual clothing. There was coffee and food. The Church itself had a warm, atmosphere to it. The seats were cushioned, and comfortable. The soundsystem was fantastic and the main speaker stood in front of a movie screen showing nature scenes while he talked. The talk itself was a personal story by the Preacher about the pain he felt upon the recent death of his own Mother and how we should all care for each other and make the most of the time we have. With the death of my own mother so recent it resonated with me personally. I shook his hand and told him I enjoyed his talk as he left the stage area.
Now since I hadn't seen my J.W. sister in about 3 months, and the Kingdom Hall was only about 4 miles down the road, I suggested to my wife that we leave a little early and go there to catch her before she left. So we headed off to the kingdom Hall! Now a little info here. The last time I had seen any of the Witnesses was over a year ago, and in that time I haven't cut my hair, so at 61 yrs old iv'e come to look a bit like Sam Elliot in the old movie Roadhouse. Long grey hair, slight mustache, with a wool Bogin hat, and western style leather jacket. Hey, i live in the mountains, gotta look the part. Keeps the tourists happy! Anyway, we arrive at the Hall just as it's getting out and head on in. Only one person came forward to greet us, and he seemed more intent on blocking our way than anything else. Then i noticed it. The stares, the small groups of people gathering together looking our way and whispering together. The atmosphere of coldness, of who are you, what do you want, ect. What surprised me most was the look of actual FEAR on a couple of the womens faces. WE DID NOT BELONG! So i put on my best smile and strode forward, hand extended, and asked if my sister was there. She wasn't. Thats good. I hope she stays away more. I did see one person i actually like there, a guy and his wife who had a Bible Study with me a long time ago. We talked a bit and I politely refused a invatation to hear the Circuit Oversear talk next Sunday. I wasn't rude or anything but I did fight the urge to say that I would rather have my testicles eaten by a goat than listen to some old guy ramble on about how great the peaching work is. As we left, i asked my wife what she thought of the place since she had never been inside a K.H. before. She said it was like being inside a storage shed, lifeless, and stark. One more thing, you know how Witnesses always ask you how your life is going. Hoping that you will come up with a long list of woes in order to confirm their belief that all worldly people are miserable. I was asked this twice, and both times answered truthfully that everything is fine and i have never been happier in my life. Funny thing is, it's true. I actually can't find anything to complain about nowadays. Things are going just fine for once and I honestly hope that everyone reading this rather rambling narrative can say the same. I always read this forum. Why? Because one day I expect this Cult to start asking some very strange things of it's members and i want to know if/when that hapens! Time for more coffee and a walk.