This past weekend my husband and son and I went to stay with my JW in-laws.
It was a pleasant weekend. They were a little subdued this weekend, I think the assembly got to them and they seemed less open to discussing our feelings about the WT.
A very interesting thing happened as we packed to go on Sunday morning. I was in the guest room folding clothes into our suitcase when my father-in-law tapped on the door.
"Hey hon, " he said, "I have been meaning to give you these clothes, I think you left them almost a year ago when you came to visit."
He handed me three pieces of little boy clothing, a pair of dress khakis, plaid dress shirt and argyle sweater vest.
"Thanks, " I said. I took the clothes and looked at them with astonishment. I had completely forgotten them. I remember buying them last fall as the weather started to turn so that my son would have something to wear to the meeting. The clothes had never been worn, they are in pristine condition, I half expected to see tags hanging from the sleeves.
I do remember bringing them to my in-laws, for some reason we didn't go the meeting that visit, well at the time we were irregular at best. The funny thing is that not long after leaving these clothes behind we stopped going all together.
The clothes gave me such an odd feeling, as if they belonged to another life, some kind of "Bizarro" world. There was a time when I would have frantically called my mother-in-law if I had left such clothes behind, I would have asked her to mail them quickly. Meeting clothes are a real expense, and I used to only buy "just enough" for each meeting and one day of service per week. 4 outfits to rotate.
I put the clothes in the suitcase, who knows? They are now too small for my son, but maybe one day he will have a brother who can wear them. Although they really have no place in our life anymore...except maybe a family photo. One of those formal pictures with everyone in Cosby-like color-coordinated sweaters. Two little boys in the front row, hair parted and slicked down.
The picture begins to evolve in my mind, there is a bit of red in the argyle sweater. Red, sweaters, white snowflakes and green trees and our picture suddenly appears as a card - "Season's Greetings."
Well, as Dr. Evil might say, why have a family photo when you can have ummm ahhhh Xmas Card?
HAAHAAHAAHAA (evil laugh and pinky turned to my face).