Hehehe, it would appear that the general response to "Why do non-JWs love JWs??" would be,
BECAUSE THEY'RE INSANE!!
And I'm not gonna argue with that, I know full-well that I'm completely and utterly insane to be trying to make anything out of a relationship with a JW, but alas, like Will Power said, love and romance are my weaknesses, I can't help it, I'm still in that romantic phase and I refuse to let the down side kill my relationship... yet.
Not to say that the hard reality of things hasn't set in and won't show me the light later on, but for now, I'm mostly happy. True, my guy doesn't have much tact and really doesn't express himself very well when it comes to things that he doesn't like because of his upbringing (like holidays and such), but nobody's perfect, right?? Every relationship has problems and issues, it's just that my relationship has problems that most normal relationships don't have.
Ahh, I can see just how naive and blind I am, I've had that pointed out to me on a regular basis (and I'm so grateful for that!!), but it's also very true that I don't know the full extent of my boyfriend's "JW-ness" or the "JW-ness" of his family, so I can't just write this off until I at least get a hint of that. After all, I don't really know his family and from what I've seen, they're fairly liberal, but I can't be sure of that and I'd like to know a little more before I write this off as a failed relationship and move on, or else there'll always be that "what if...?". Rest assured, though, that I'm keeping my eyes and ears open, I'm very much so aware of my boyfriend's thoughts and actions, and my ears always perk up when I hear him mention something that I know can be related to the WTS. (Like last night when I called him, he mentioned that his brother had shaved his beard for a new job, and I said, "What kind of place would ban a neatly trimmed beard??", knowing full-well that beards aren't always acceptable among JWs, and my boyfriend said, "Beats me, kinda weird, isn't it??", when he'd normally say something like, "Well, you know, Witnesses believe that...", so I'm thinking that he definitely doesn't know all of the WTS's rules and restrictions, interesting thought, makes me curious, but I'm not putting too much stock in it.)
It's like my dear friend insearchoftruth said, I love my boyfriend for who he is, not what he believes, and of course, that's what makes this situation so difficult. And like Will Power said, everything needs to be laid out on the table right from the get-go, so believe me when I say that I won't be making any commitments before I'm sure of what I'm getting myself into. After all, that's why I'm here, to learn and prepare myself for what could lie ahead, whatever that may be.
Or maybe I'm just a devil for punishment and that's why I'm doing this to myself, hard to say.
Do I think that I can "fix him"?? No, not really, but I do think that there might be a chance that this might work out, because it very well could. Of course, it could fall apart into a million little pieces, but there's still that tiny chance that this might work, I guess it all depends on what he's willing to do. I've already outlined what I think and what I will and won't do for him, so he just needs to decide where he stands. It's not that simple, but that's a start, anyway. I'd never try to "change" a guy to make him into exactly what I'd want him to be, it doesn't work that way, but some compromise and change is always required in a relationship to make it work, so who knows.
If this turns out OK, great, if it doesn't, I'll chaulk it up to experience and move on, same as everyone else does. In the meantime, this relationship requires some more exploration and thought before it gets written off. You wouldn't buy a car without a test drive, you wouldn't buy a house without an inspection and tour, you wouldn't choose a university without reading up on it, so why leave a relationship without exploring it and knowing a little more about it first??
I don't want to live out my life wondering, "What if...??".
Am I the only UBM out there who feels that way?? And what do other UBMs out there have to say for their relationships??
-Becka :)