This was something I was wanting to do for a long time . I knew this friend as far back as elementary school, we played tennis together in high school , played music and sang together in his band a little. A very nice guy who I was close to until age 19. But because of my Jehovah's Witness upbringing it changed at 19.
Long story short, although my witness parents allowed me to associate with this friend and other non-witness friends, in 1979, my then fanatic witness fiance laid the law down to me that we COULD NOT have any non-witness friends at our wedding. So 2 months after the wedding my good friend called me wanting to know why he wasn't invited to our wedding. I stumbled clumsily on my words and tried to explain that we were instructed by our witness religion to only associate with Jehovah's Witnesses and my wife felt that way as well - I was sorry but it was our belief. He just said, " Well, I'll see you when I see you. "
I felt awful for years about this , and finally after being out of the witness cult for about 6 years I was determined to make amends . So I found his contact information and called him Sunday ! I apologized over how I had treated him 30 years ago and explained I was in a mind control cult that prevented us from socializing with non-witnesses. He was so understanding and happy to hear from me. He was surprised I had felt badly about it all this time and he easily forgave me - and we talked for 45 minutes about old times and childhood experiences just like old friends ! It was like we had never missed a beat !
He shared with me that he still had the cassette recording of me singing with him and his music group the Led Zeppelin song " Kashmir " from 32 years before ! He said he always knew my family was totally absorbed in the witnesses , and he even remembered coming to my house on Halloween trick or treating and me giving him Awake and Watchtowers instead of candy at 8 years of age ! Crazy ! I explained how insane the witness cult was and that I was glad I got out ! We traded contact information, phone numbers, e-mails and are sending pictures of our wives, children, and family to catch up after 30 years !
It's amazing to me how kind and accepting this friend is and how unconditional his caring is ! Much different from the witnesses ! He said he always thought of me over the years and how I was doing. I told him the same ! I am so happy and excited to have a childhood friend back ! It's amazing ! We will keep this friendship always now ! Have any of you experienced this reconnecting before after exiting the witnesses ? Look forward to your comments ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper