We live about half an hour from the Kingdom Hall. We had some snow last night and the roads are a little "iffy". I didn't want my 83 yo mother driving on her own so I brought her in and dropped her off. Some thoughts:
1. I told her I'd drop her off, but I wasn't going to "sit in". She said that going to the meeting wouldn't hurt me. She was wrong about that.
2. When we drove into the parking lot and there were people walking in with their book bags and dress coats, I literally felt a little nauseous.
3. There is a tiny, tiny part of me that feels sad. While the elders were a bunch of egomaniacal douches when I was a good Witness girl in my teens, there were lots of wonderful people in our congregation who functioned as an extended family for us. Since I didn't really have any worldly friends in school, that was also where I spent time with my peers. I wonder what happened to some of them.
4. There is a much bigger part of me that is VERY glad that I'm sitting here at McDonald's sipping a Coke and getting some paperwork done.
5. I wonder if I should feel guilty for serving as an enabler for this cult. But, my mom is 83, has been a Witness most of her adult life, depends on her congregation as her own social outlet, and clings to this goofy religion like it's a lifeline. So, I'm an enabler.
6. I wonder why the heck McDonald's does provide wi-fi but does not provide any electrical outlets.