WARNING! Long post ahead!
I didn't know what to expect but I was really excited to be invited to accompany my daughter and her closest friends to a large (300+) party held at a famous hot spot. I spent many hours designing and sewing/crafting our costumes. I will shamelessly admit they were SPECTACULAR!
Some background: I hadn't seen my daughter in 13 months. She lives a long distance from me and she has an extremely busy independent life. She and I have had a rocky relationship in the past, (too long to go into). One of her "issues" with me is that she thinks I play a victim about various tragedies in my life-especially my 60 yrs spent believing in Watchtower. She has no empathy for the trauma some experience as they wake up and subsequently leave.
This was the first time I had met approx 10 of her friends who included a well-known actor. She wanted me to STFU about being an ex-JW. I really tried to honor that request, honest! But....... I couldn't help myself. At the party as I "worked the room" without her I went up to a young man who looked to me like he was dressed as some kind of fake security guard. I asked, "Who are you?" He smiled at me and said, "Hi, I'm a Mormon missionary"! "I busted up laughing as he gave me a fake testimony card he had made. I mentioned this was my first Halloween costume and party. Of course he asked why? Turns out he and his girlfriend had both recently left different cults (not Mormon). We felt a strong connection and he even insisted on buying me a drink. Of course I raised my glass and toasted them and they laughed loudly when I told them I was breaking another JW rule!
Next, I approached a couple of women who were together and seemed friendly, one 60 something and one half her age. I used my previous opening line about it being my first Halloween. The older woman turned out to be some kind of ex-hippy spiritual advisor and the younger is "searching". The older woman said she used to take Watchtowers from Jws to add to her collection of quote: "Weird pictures of Jesus". That gave me a good laugh! We talked a long time. As I left them they both hugged me with true affection. They looked for and found my daughter in order to tell her how much they enjoyed meeting me. he he BTW so did the "Mormon" (more he he)
It was about midnight and I was still having a ball dancing and meeting people when my daughter's group decided to leave the venue and go back to the house they had rented in the dessert. I went with the flow although I was having so much fun I didn't want to leave yet. Back at the ranch (so to speak) The guys built a bonfire and the celebrity's best friend started playing guitar and making up hilarious lyrics. One guy with a beard who was wearing overalls put a hat on that in the dark made him look Amish to me. He LOLed when I told him. I spontaneously broke out with my rendition of "been wasting most our lives living in an Amish paradise." The crowd roared.
The evening ended with my daughter's best friend inviting me to join her and the guitar player and his famous model girlfriend in their trailer they had rented next door. As my opening line had worked so well for me all night, I figured why stop now? Guess what? The model was raised a JW!!! I am still smiling as I write this.
I never bothered to tell daughter these experiences since she doesn't want me to even mention JWs to her. Thanks for reading! I just HAD to tell someone. :)