I was born in Mt Vernon, Ohio, to JW parents. My father was DF'd when I was two, and my parents divorced shortly after that. My mother re-married, another JW of course, and when I was 13 my step father adopted me. I was baptized when I was 16, and started auxilliary pioneering then. I became a regular pioneer when I was 18, but quickly burnt out and left the kingdom hall (and my family) shortly before my 19th birthday. My sister was 9 at the time, and I did not see or speak to her again until she was 18. Because my parents were convinced that I had been spoiled by "bad associations," they took her out of public school and home-schooled her. My step father is now a PO, my mother still regularly auxilliary pioneers, and my sister married a JW and now has two kids. I thought for a while that she might escape, but as hard as it was for me to leave my family and everyone I ever knew, it must be even harder for her with two young children. I still feel very guilty for abandoning her.