Mother's Day: Do You Send Your JW Mom a Card/Gift?

by VIII 17 Replies latest jw experiences

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  VIII

  Since I left the JWs I have consistently sent my Mom a Mother's Day card and / or flowers. Depending on my mood and credit limit I will send her a gift.

  She has never asked me not to nor has she said this is a bad thing or not approved by the Society. I also acknowledge her birthday and send her gifts at Christmas. She accepts all. I have never, ever received a gift or card or phone call on my birthday. Until today. She called and totally ignored my birthday. She chatted for about 5 minutes and ignored it was my birthday. Cie la vie.

  Do you, as an Ex-JW, send your Mom who is a JW anything on Mother's Day? Did you when you were a JW?
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  only me

  I've always given my Mom a Mother's day gift and she always called me on my birthday and asked if I felt any older.

  Now she has dementia and doesn't remember. I'll still give her flowers on Mother's Day.
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  mrsjones5

  I don't but my sister and brother do. Mother will even call and tell me what she received from my siblings.

  The routine on my birthday is a call from her letting me know that I won't turn whatever age until 7:20pm. The one type of acknowledgement I get from my parents. I guess beggars can't be choosy.

  During her weaker moments when I was a teen she would buy a birthday cake, nothing written on it just a white cake with my favorite filling. Most times she would get that wrong and mix up the favs of my sister and I. I was thankful for the thought.

  Josie
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  undercover

  Nope...

  Having been raised a JW since birth, I've never experienced what it was like to give Mother's Day cards, Birthday cards/gifts, Xmas cards/gifts, Easter baskets with candy or going trick-or-treating on Halloween. These are all foreign practices to me.

  To this day, I still don't give cards or gifts. I accept party invitations at Xmas and Halloween and reciprocate with wine or whiskey or something the host can use but it feels strange to try to suddenly join in on customs that I've never been accustomed to before. I get a few Xmas cards but I never send any out.

  My mother is a die-hard JW, she wouldn't accept a birthday or Mother's day card even if I sent one. I'm not even sure when her birthday is, now that I think about it.
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  jamiebowers

  Nope...

  Having been raised a JW since birth, I've never experienced what it was like to give Mother's Day cards, Birthday cards/gifts, Xmas cards/gifts, Easter baskets with candy or going trick-or-treating on Halloween. These are all foreign practices to me.

  To this day, I still don't give cards or gifts. I accept party invitations at Xmas and Halloween and reciprocate with wine or whiskey or something the host can use but it feels strange to try to suddenly join in on customs that I've never been accustomed to before. I get a few Xmas cards but I never send any out.

  My mother is a die-hard JW, she wouldn't accept a birthday or Mother's day card even if I sent one. I'm not even sure when her birthday is, now that I think about it.

  That all sounds very sad to me. Have you tried giving a birthday or Christmas gift to someone you care about outside of the Watchtower? I wish everyone could experience the thrill of finding the perfect gift, wrapping and presenting it and see the recipient's eyes light up when the gift is opened. It could be the simplest of things. My husband's two favorite gifts were a coin collector book and a pepper grinder with his name engraved on it. I hope you get to experience such happiness someday.

  I don't do anything for my jw mom, because it would be disingenuous. She's shunned me for 20+ years, so I don't have any idea what she'd like for a gift. She's allergic to flowers, and her health doesn't permit candy.
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  mrsjones5

  "Have you tried giving a birthday or Christmas gift to someone you care about outside of the Watchtower? I wish everyone could experience the thrill of finding the perfect gift, wrapping and presenting it and see the recipient's eyes light up when the gift is opened. It could be the simplest of things. My husband's two favorite gifts were a coin collector book and a pepper grinder with his name engraved on it. I hope you get to experience such happiness someday."

  I agree. One of the best presents I ever gave was to my husband. It was a Big Bertha Driver I had won in a company raffle. I had to hide it at work, somehow get it home and hide it again without my dear husband finding it (we lived in a really small 2 bedroom apt), wrap it and secret it under the damn christmas tree. The look on his face when he unwrapped it was priceless.

  Josie
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  purplesofa

  Im trying to muster up the courage, insanity, whatever to send my MOM a letter and some pics of her great grandbaby for Mothers Day, we have not had contact for well over a year now.

  She had read COC and decided that even though after reading it, the organization was where she wanted to be, and I have just kinda let her alone after all that.

  I sent her a Mothers Day card the year before last and she said I guess this means you aren't a Witness anymore?!
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  mrsjones5

  Made you want to say "Duh!!", huh?
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  mrsjones5

  Double post
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  Barbie Doll

  PEC ----Sister, we sent her a Card for her Birthday. But it didn't say happy Birthday on it.

  I think she knows what we are doing. we haven't heard from her.

  WE don't have Mothers.