Merry--love that!
Nowman--awesome that you have your mom back!
Anewme--great how you made a new life for yourself!
Other posters--love to hear your stories!
I went to a Christmas office party, got drunk, and danced all night. Everyone tried to hide the story from my JW co-worker but I finally confessed to her because I knew she would eventually find out or so I worried. She threatened to rat me out to the elders, so I called them, met with them, and said I don't want to be a JW anymore and they promptly DF me. Shocked everyone because I had always been such a goody goody but I was tired of being judged and tired of constantly being reminded that anything I did might "stumble" someone, and that nothing we ever did would be good enough for Jehovah.
I got reinstated 2 years later because I missed my sister and my friends, and within a short time stopped attending meetings and reverted back to my wicked wordly ways. When the elders came sniffing around and saw me with my bearded brother, I'm sure they assumed he was my boyfriend, they got out of the car across the street and hand motioned and mouthed the words "Call us". I smiled and said ok. But I never went back to the BS and I guess they put me down as "Inactive", that was 14 years ago or so. And oddly enough, I have a relationship with my JW sister although I'm not sure why; I'm assuming because she thinks she'll be able to "Witness" to my kids. My kids are teenagers now so I warned them about that evil religion.