OK, the homemade chicken noodle soup is cooking so I have about ten minutes to share something with you.
****Fake Name/family relationships Alert*** Critical info has been changed to protect the innocent.
I called a Business Contact that I've gotten to know over the past year today. I said, "Rico, let's go to lunch."
"Hey Lisa I haven't written any business with you, that doesn't feel right."
"Rico, I'm not asking you to write business, I'm inviting you to lunch! Now I've invited you three times in the past and you always say no, so I'm beginning to wonder if I have a wart on the end of my nose?"
"Ok, I'll go--BJ's at 11:30?"
We sit down and start to have a pleasant conversation. We talk about the business environment in the Central Valley, business opportunites down the road, etc. About a half hour into lunch he shares that he's breaking up with his significant other with whom he has a daughter.
We start to talk about that, and the reasons. Turns out she's not willing to 'invest' any time in his family, unlike himself who invests a lot of time and emotional energy into hers. He says it doesn't feel right not to be a part of his extended family. He is trying to be as close to them as possible, which is hard for me to understand.
At that point I share that I was raised JW, and I've seen more broken family relationships than you can shake a stick at, and what a negative long-term impact severed family ties can have, blah blah blah.
He then tells me, "Lisa, I was raised JW too."
Well that starts another whole conversation. "Rico" is in his early 40's. His mom died when he was young, raised by older family kind of thing. I'm not too clear on the details cause I'm still in shock.
In short:
- he never got baptised
- he was encouraged to turn down a football scholarship at Fresno State
- an elder took him to the side and privately begged him to go to school, he didn't feel that would have been the 'spiritual' choice.
- he was not old-school hard nose, more of a fringe 'son,' and so bears them no ill will
- he is never invited to family gatherings 'bad association spoils useful habits'
- his brother is a DO
now here comes the bombshell. He is not good enough to be invited to any family gatherings but his brother's wife called him a couple of months ago after 'praying' over the issue. Assures him that she loves him but can not associate with him, and then proceeds to ask if he will help their family pay for a trip to Poland to attend the International Assembly this summer.
He said he would pay for it all.
Even though I know he's not reading this, I want to send him another hug.
Him and all the other "Rico's" that we will never know about, because there are too many to count. He still has some level of belief in God and the Truth, I told him I didn't but I didn't tell him why, too overwhelming for him.
Lisa
Can you stand it? Class