My story in brief....
After being a born-in, getting baptized at 15, and seeking to excel based on the approval of elders and my parents, I hit a bump in the road. I moved to a new congregation, and was a little more than disheartened by the lack of love. With all my responsibilities removed from the recent move and being told that I no longer qualified for responsibilities due to my declining activity, I sat down to do some long overdue research to appreciate our spiritual heritage. I started with Studies in the Scriptures and Millions Now Living. I was dumbfounded by the things I learned and was curious how much other crap we used to teach as "truth". This led to severe cognitive dissonance, marital problems, and depression. All three are slowly getting better with time. It seems that the more meetings we miss, the better it gets. I've been fading since July 2013 and have only been door to door twice since then. I miss, on average two or three meetings a month, but this month has been particularly good since I've missed two weeks straight. I haven't received a single call from the elders for encouragement, not even the one that just a few weeks ago claimed he'd be in touch weekly because it was his duty in light of the recent BOE letter.
So after missing two weeks straight, I walk into the supermarket to get some beer, apple cider to be more specific, and I see a brother at our hall. I've always liked this brother because he's one of the few that have been nice to me, so I approach him to see how he's doing.
Me: "Hey bro! What's going on? I haven't seen you for a while."
Bro: "Hey! What's up?" (He stops. Looks at me really closely.) "Oh wait, I'm not supposed to talk to you."
Me: (Initial reaction. Oh crap. They've found out. I've been disfellowshipped and they didn't even tell me, or at least marked. Those pricks!) "Really? What's up?"
Bro: "Oh, I was disfellowshipped last night." (And he starts to walk off as fast as he can.)
Me: (I start to walk off fast with him to.) "I'm sorry to hear that bro."
Bro: (Still trying to get away.) "Don't worry, I'll be back."
Me: "I know. I still got to check on my brother though. I can't shun you like that. You know that."
So we stopped and chatted for a bit. I tried to get him to tell me what happened and why they disfellowshipped him, but he wouldn't say anything except it was too personal. He assured me that things were great with him and his wife. (My guess is pornography.) I assured him that I was there for him if he needed anything.
It felt good not shunning him. Especially after this time a year ago I met an older sister that was disfellowshipped and shrunk back like she was diseased when she told me her status. I guess I've come a long way from where I was, but I still have quite a journey left ahead of me.
Thanks everyone for helping me to begin mustering up the courage to do what's right and be a better person.