It has been two years since my family stopped attending and being "active". My daughter is in her 30's settled and teaching with a Masters degree she got post her separation and divorce four years ago from a witness, she is remaried and happy. We just celebrated our first Xmas since joining JW in the early 80's.
My wife now has increasing bouts of extreme anger (that border on violence) directed primarily at me for wasting twenty years of her life and causing my daughter to have periodic problems with flashbacks and anxiety. I really don't blame her, I should have been smarter and not so wooed by the promise of a "spiritual paradise" and a new world that was just around the corner based on the fact that the 1914 generation was fast dwindling. Really, my motive was clearly selfish in wanting to be on the better side of God when the end (which I always believed in) came. At that time, being an RC I could see many problems with the emerging child abuse and hypochrisy that lead me to what I believed was a better hope. I would never put my family in harms way - but looking back I did when we became JW's.
I have tried reasoning and being outright sorry for putting my family through that, but it is no use. I love my wife dearly and I am trying to put those twenty years behind us. If I could wind the clock back to that instant I "listened" to the JW's I would not hestiate to send them packing. However, I live with my mistakes. There is not a day goes by that I am reminded of the lost years and I am beginning to become desparate. Anyone been though this or knows of a similar situation and could offer some insight?
SM