I'm new (duh) to this message board. I usually frequent message boards of a more sinful type...lol...but I have been on a search for quite sometime to talk with people who understand where I'm coming from when I talk about the religion I grew up in. I get tired of getting that deer in the headlight look OR the infamous "for real you sold bibles door to door and woke people up in the morning?" look from my "wordly" (ha ha) friends. I have so many questions and so many opinions/comments about my experiences as a JW. Here's a little background on me: I come from a loooooooong line of them. The one I remember most is my grandmother. Of her 8 children, 3 of them (the three women - coincidence -- I think not) became JW's. Two married none JW's, and one did not. The one that married a Brother, had 12 children, who ALL became Witnesses. It's not like they had a choice...my uncle ruled with an iron fist and it knocked them all to the Hall ERRRYDAY there was service... I'm not saying he was abusive (NO) I'm saying he was strict and if you lived in his house you were to live as a JW no question. I'm one of 3, and my older brother and sister became one. Now, ask me how many of us are still attending meetings and pioneering and so on and so forth? HA!!! Not the 20 something people I just rattled off I tell you that! Me, I attended meetings regularly, I went out in the service, I did talks and absolutely looooooved it! I was NEVER shy and one of my favorite elders in the congregation loved to put me on stage because I was sure to get a laugh or a gasp out of the audience because of my precocious nature. From the time I was about 3 years old I was very ACTIVE in the congregation. Until one Sunday morning my mother gave me a choice of sleeping in late, or getting up going to Hall and risk getting pinched to death for falling asleep so much during the boring talks...I chose option A. Don't get me wrong I eventually would go. Why? Because I was always up for attention and a nerd anyway, so the thought of grabbing a microphone and shouting out answers outlined in the Watchtower and hearing everyone OOO and Aaah because I got the answer right intrigued me enough to continue to go.
So how did I get here? Bad association spoiled ALL my useful habits....lol!! I broke free from embarrasment of not celebrating holidays, being able to get my ears pierced, and dammit if I wanted to kiss a boy....PUCKER UP BABY!! I was so incredibly stiffled that breaking free was so liberating for me! I could write for days but I really must get back to work. Now that I've found this site I will be back online tonight at home. I have so much more to say, but marinate on this if you must. HOLLA!