I spoke to my niece last night, who is getting a divorce. Her soon to be ex-husband told her it was announced that she is disassociated, recently. News to all of us. It hasn't trickled down to our town. They live a little North of us.
Anyway, while they were talking, he said how HORRIBLE all people who stop going to meetings are. They are just horrible apostates. She challenged him and asked him who he meant. He of course, mentioned my husband and myself, who he blames for his wife leaving the "truth" and leaving him. (no connection..............she wasn't talking to us, to please him............discovered everything on her own)
She said, "if they are so horrible, why aren't they disfellowshipped?" His reply was "It's a terrible scandal that they aren't disfellowshipped. They should be."
A few days ago, I took my mother to a sister, to have a permanent. I used to go to her too, and hadn't seen her since we stopped going to meetings and assemblies. She greeted me very warmly, with a big hug. We chatted a bit, and then I left Mom there. When I came back, she hugged me again and said how wonderful it was to see me. Mom won't tell me what they talked about. Damn!
Today, I was visiting my best friend, who is still a witness and refuses to cut me off, and is recovering from surgery. Her sister in law (a devoted dub from a nearby congregation) is taking care of her. We all know each other. We all sat and talked for about 1 1/2 hours, very friendly, catching up on our lives.
Why am I so horrible? It's all so silly. Only selected ones from my niece's family, and our old congregation shun us. How weird is that?