Every July my husbands Mothers side of the family has a reunion . This year his sister and brother in law attended from across the country ,she has only been back maybe three times in thirty years ! This is the first time we have met her new husband . My Mother in law and Father in law (husbands step father ) are active JW's ,he is an Elder . Since our fade we only see them once a year at this time . They have never officially said they are shunning us ,but we no longer get phone calls the rest of the year.
At this same time my husbands Father and step Mother were also visiting ,neither of them are JW .
His sister kept making the comment how much Happier,relaxed her brother ,my husband ,now appears .
She asks, " Is it because he is out of that religion now ?"' Then his step Mother said the very same thing ! They even asked him directly .
This makes me smile because for so long he has teased me that I am the 'evil' influence that has steered him away from the Witnesses .But deep down I know he is grateful . He has not done the research that I have, and has not proven to himself that the real truth is the JW religion is a cult .He stopped attending because I did ,but he also was offended by how unloving and hypocritical the congregation truly was . Now he is being confronted by the fact that everyone around him recognizes he is so much happier ,and I think it really made him stop and think about how much better he does now feel being away from the control of the Watchtower society .
When his parents come to visit it is so confusing though . They act as if nothing has changed . They arrange for their younger DF'd son and his family to come up and see them . They come to our house and arrange outings to be with us and his other brother that has faded . The only sanction they have made is that we call before we stop over while they are here ,because we can not be there the same time the other Witness part of the family is visiting . They stay at 'worldly ' relatives house ,who have no idea of the sanctions .In fact it was brought up in front of their daughter and she was shocked to hear it . They think it is us being aloof .
I am glad they are not acting as other Witness families do ...but it does make it confusing not knowing where we stand . I don't know if I should try harder at keeping communications open the rest of the year or just be grateful for what we get ?