Okay, don't get excited...............it was AT a Christian women's retreat...........location only. Princess, one of my daughters in law and I all went for an all day scrapbooking event 9AM - 9PM. It was for the entire weekend, Friday through Sunday, but we opted for the Saturday part only. About 12 women were there.
It was held at a retreat in Monroe WA, about 20 miles North of Seattle, not too far from where we all live. We got there in time for breakfast on Sunday, and walked into the kitchen to get our food. The first person I saw was a recognizable face, but not sure it was really her since I hadn't seen her for several years. I have known her since I was about 13, from assemblies and the parties the young JW's had back in the 60's. I was going back and forth about whether it was really her, because I knew she lived about an hour South of Seattle, and it was an awfully long ways to go for this kind of a weekend, lots of things to make it NOT her, so I asked her. She was the person I thought she was. I was face to face with a dub.............grrrr. I thought it was going to ruin the day, because I was set to scrapbook Christmas and birthday photos, and maybe apostofest. Not knowing how she would react, and whether I could remain undisfellowshipped after this day, I was worried.
The girls (Rachel and Tif) told me to be myself and not worry about her.
She introduced me to her daughter, who had brought her............they were there for the whole weekend. I realized she was a bit uncomfortable too, and probably thought I wondered why she was at a Christian woman's retreat. Her husband (she married "out of the truth") and adult daughters are not dubs, so that was a plus for me.
As we chatted, I told her I was inactive, but not disfellowshipped. It seemed to roll right off her back, and we chatted from time to time all day, but most of us were busy working on our photo albums. She only came to look at what we were doing, shortly before we left. She saw Rachel doing her apostofest pages, with a large blue title "APOSTOFEST".
We were packing up to go home, and I hugged her and said goodbye, and she started asking questions about whether my husband and kids had also "left the truth". I said the whole family had, and she wanted to know why, and assured me it would go no further. I gave her a very condensed version, and she nodded with a serious face, and said "well I guess we just have to leave it in Jehovah's hands". Then the whole room started singing Happy Birthday, and I wondered who it was for, when I realized it was my daughter in law they were singing to (her birthday is tomorrow). So I joined in, and my old friend didn't bat an eye. Her daughter was singing too.
The day turned out fine, and so far no repurcussions. I know she has had a rough life, with an unbelieving husband, and serious health problems for one of her girls too, so she was probably safe.
It was a great day, and I am so glad I went.