All,
I have enjoyed this site long enough, that I thought it was time to start giving back. It's been a reflective few days as I tried to quantify the passage of time. How time flies...
I turn 55 this year- and life is Amazing!
It was last year I reached out to one of my siblings via email to see if I could visit my mom before
she passes as she is over 90 now and the response I got was that it was too painful for her
to see me until "I do the right thing"
It was 5 years ago that I was able to finally become whole from all the anger and pain and normalize my life.
It was 33 years ago that i was DF'd. Funny thing the only people who remember that fact is my family
it was 15 years ago I last saw my siblings at the funeral of my unbelieving dad. before that I at least
had somewhat of a relationship with my mother, who went into hard core shunning after that.
How quickly it was disregarded everything I did to take care of them both while dad was alive
because I had the financial means to do so.
It was 12 years ago I got a phone call from a strange number that was from my niece trying to find her uncle.
her uncle that was a name unspoken because he was DF'd and she was looking for something to hang on
to as she tried to escape. We had a good conversation, I told her some things about her mother, my
sister that she didn't know and told her the two things that I used everyday to keep me going:
Don't ever give up - if you do they win
Living better is the best revenge
Last I heard she did not make it out.
So what happened in all the years in between? Life happened. Good days, bad days, divorce, marriage more then once
Focused on my career without college, raised a child, danced at his wedding, enjoyed the birth of the first grandchild
and all along the way embraced the holidays and made them my own. Created our own family traditions to
embrace the things that were important to us. Through all of that I always had an edge when it came to
religion and my family that kept me from being whole. But I was determined to succeed.
Then I met someone who helped me bridge the gap between religion and faith, understanding that
because of being raised as a JW I would never be whole without coming to grips with it all.
I can now embrace going to and being part of a church and how it fills my personal need for faith
and how that made me whole and ready to take on the next adventures in my life. So remember when things
get tough:
Don't ever give up - if you do they win
Living better is the best revenge
Myway