So the wife and I met up with an old friend. The woman actually grew up around my
wife, I knew her as a young adult. She lives in a different state, is married now, has
two children- one is less than a year old.
We met up with them because they are going to a District Convention that was not too
far off our trail as we were traveling. We were going to the Assembly Hall area for the
foreign language District Convention. (My wife is at it right now.) So anyway, the mother
of two says that she already attended the convention with her family so they could take
care of the children while she paid attention. Now she is attending with her husband so
she can take care of the children while he pays attention. They both admit they now
hated conventions- so difficult with children.
They wouldn't admit more because they remembered that I am not attending. Still, it
amazes me that they hate going, but the wife goes MORE so everyone can pay attention.
It's just such cult programming. You might actually start WORLDLY thinking if you don't
fully get to pay attention each and every year.
My mother says she hates going. She says there's never any real NEW stuff and it's
so hard to sit there for one day, let alone three. I imagine by next year (if not this year) she
will only go to one day of the conventions. (Sunday, so she can have the precious drama and
learn about all the book releases from the previous days.)
My wife still acts like she loves it. The thing is- she loves meeting old friends and catching up
with them. She loves going out to dinner with them. I don't think she loves the program at all.
When she thought I was still a believer, she admitted it was hard to pay attention all that time.
If they announced 4-day conventions for next year (they are not), the audience would clap as
they are supposed to. If they announced only 2-day conventions, they would clap louder.