I totally related to what you posted, dear Scarred (peace to you!), and apologize for going off-topic. I can rely on your unconditional love and forgiveness, though, right?
Your topic and thoughts were wonderful and I thank you for posting them. And I am truly sorry for those, here, and throughout the world who didn't get such love. I could put myself in that same boat (my entire family on my mother's side, devout Lutherans, "disowned" me when I became a JW. My grandfather actually travelled from Virginia, where he lived, to New York, where I was living at the time... to tell me that, as a family, "We are LUTHERAN, we have always BEEN Lutheran," and if I did NOT cease my association with Jehovah's Witnesses, I could considered myself "disowned and no longer a part of that family." Yikes! At the time, it didn't bother me because, well, I had the Witnesses - right? And then, even their loved "failed."
My point? It is not only JW children who miss out on unconditional love.
BUT... such love is NOT hard to find, indeed, it is being offered to YOU... and everyone everywhere... right now:
It is summed up in the invitation of my Lord, that, "ALL you who are toiling and loaded down... come to ME!" And his invitation, "ALL you who are thirsting, come to ME and drink"... and "... you will find seasons of REFRESHING... for your SOUL!" It is summed up in the invitation he and his Bride offer to ALL: "Come! Take 'life's water'... free!"
Conditional love IS cruel, dear Scarred... and should not be the lot of ANY child. But we're not children anymore and so we can CHOOSE to continue in the "void"... and hold onto that tired, ragged old "woobie" of... "I didn't get..."... "No one gave ME..."... "I missed out..." "I was robbed...".... and things like these.
Or, we can FORGET THE THINGS IN THE PAST... move toward the things [set out] before us. The Way is an open road, dear one. We can stand still and commisurate on what we missed out on... or we can love forward and LIVE... and love. The choice is ours, each one of us. Our parents, families, the WTBTS, etc., no longer control us... what we think... what we feel... what we get... or what we DON'T get. That... is now in our own hands and control.
(Dear Josie - peace to you!) I sign cards for my husband to his grandchildren all the time. Not that he doesn't love them; it's just that I am more of a "card" person than he. I also don't get where he acknowledged her as his grandchild - other than her saying so - but, perhaps, didn't treat her any different when she was child and so she perceived that he viewed her that way. Again, only one side of the story... and, again, interesting that it is only this child that seems to be telling it (for which I am SURE she received some compensation). And, again, I am not saying that he is right if her story is accurate. I am just saying, IS her story accurate?).
Again, dear Scarred, I apologize for being off-topic and will end my part here. Peace to you, both!
A slave of Christ,
SA