Okay, so I just woke up from my Watchtower Life Coma on September 15, 2004. In July of 2005 I moved 2300 miles away to southern California in an attempt to fade. I haven't communicated with any of my former JW friends... But I thought this one old friend was sure to be safe...
Years ago when I was an elder, he used to find all sorts of stuff about JWs on the internet--and (as we were very close) he'd ask me about it. He'd been an MS for awhile, then eventually began drifting back. Stepped aside, stopped going to very many meetings--then he, his wife and two little children suddenly moved about 2000 miles away. A few years ago I'd heard that he wasn't attending meetings anymore. As I reflected on this after fading from the organization myself, I felt so CERTAIN he'd figured it all out too. Guess again...
Through much finagling, I finally got his phone number and have been calling him, leaving messages. He wouldn't call. "I know what he's thinking," I said. "He thinks I'm calling to try and muscle him back into meetings." So I left a message stating something to the effect that I probably wasn't calling for the reasons he thought I was. So he called me...
Several minutes into the conversation, this exchange occurs...
"So, Mick, I don't go to the Kingdom Hall anymore."
"Oh, that's a bummer; why not?"
"Well, do you go to the Kingdom Hall?"
"Yeah, we go all the time. I'm goin' tonight, why?"
So he asked me if I thought I ever would go back. I told him plainly that I never would. We talked awhile longer, and things kinda fizzled from there.
Son of a pup! I was so sure...