Merry Magdalene

Joined

• started 20 topics
• posted 781 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Merry Magdalene

• 
  64

  Uninvited--A Wonderful "Witness"

  by Merry Magdalene in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i attended my mother's memorial at the kingdom hall saturday afternoon.

  even with the jw sermon tagged on, my cousin did a lovely service for her.

  there were many jws and non-jws in attendence.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  Thanks everybody

  Kudra--no care package necessary, but if you're passing through on Hwy 12 I'd love for you to stop so I could say hi

  ~Merry
• 
  64

  Uninvited--A Wonderful "Witness"

  by Merry Magdalene in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i attended my mother's memorial at the kingdom hall saturday afternoon.

  even with the jw sermon tagged on, my cousin did a lovely service for her.

  there were many jws and non-jws in attendence.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  The after-memorial gathering was being hosted by close JW friends of my mother's. All the JWs who greeted me after the service seemed glad to hear that I would be attending it. I don't know if the host-couple was uncomfortable with my attending, or some of my JW family was, or the BOE, or just the PO.

  That's ok. I got over it....or did I? Maybe I wouldn't still be talking about it if I was truly over it. I don't know.

  ~Merry
• 
  64

  Uninvited--A Wonderful "Witness"

  by Merry Magdalene in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i attended my mother's memorial at the kingdom hall saturday afternoon.

  even with the jw sermon tagged on, my cousin did a lovely service for her.

  there were many jws and non-jws in attendence.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  i would have brought your half-brothers and their family to the PO so that he could explain to them why you had been uninvited.

  What a great idea! If only I had been thinking more clearly...

  ~Merry
• 
  64

  Uninvited--A Wonderful "Witness"

  by Merry Magdalene in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i attended my mother's memorial at the kingdom hall saturday afternoon.

  even with the jw sermon tagged on, my cousin did a lovely service for her.

  there were many jws and non-jws in attendence.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  Thank you, Warlock! But if this is the cruelest thing you've read here, do keep reading...I think this is pretty mild in comparison with many others I have read here in the last few years

  My sympathy to everyone else who has been similarly stabbed, and those who've even had the knife twisted a few times for good measure.

  It's good to be free.

  ~Merry
• 
  64

  Uninvited--A Wonderful "Witness"

  by Merry Magdalene in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i attended my mother's memorial at the kingdom hall saturday afternoon.

  even with the jw sermon tagged on, my cousin did a lovely service for her.

  there were many jws and non-jws in attendence.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  I attended my mother's memorial at the Kingdom Hall Saturday afternoon. Even with the JW sermon tagged on, my cousin did a lovely service for her

  There were many JWs and non-JWs in attendence. At the end he said everyone was welcome to gather at a certain private home afterward. What he should have said was everyone except her only child, only he didn't know that yet himself.

  Everyone was very loving toward me, embracing me, teary-eyed, asking if I would be at the gathering and glad when I said yes. I knew the shunning would go back in effect afterward, but was under the impression that it had been temporarily suspended so that we could reminisce about my mom and what she had meant to us, I could tell them about her last days and so on.

  But then the Presiding overseer gently informed me that it would be better that I not attend since it wasn't just a family gathering but a congregational one as well. It was the strangest feeling...like the surprise of someone smiling at you, eyes filled with compassion, and then suddenly sticking a knife in your gut.

  I went outside and told my non-JW half-brothers, whom I had talked into going to the gathering with me, that I had just been uninvited, and explained why. They were shocked for a moment. One's wife siad, "That's not very Christian!" then I said, wanna go do something else? They said hell yeah, cold beer and a hot beach.

  But before we did that we went to a small alternate gathering of my father's family, and my JW uncle stuck by me. When I thought I was going to the 1st larger gathering, he said that he would go to that one also, and when I was uninvited he said he would go to the other with me.

  I thought I would hear from my mother's family after it was all over but I haven't. They probably think I'm childish for not sticking around to have my pic taken with them after I got stabbed.And I wonder what everyone else thought when I wasn't there after saying I would be. Did anyone tell them the truth--that I had been officially uninvited? Or do they think I blew them off of my own accord?

  Ah well...

  ~Merry
• 
  22

  The disappearing GB

  by gumby in

  1. social
  2. humour

  the twelve dots represent the governing body members.

  stare at the center of the circle and watch them disappear.

  doncha wish it was that easy?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  they finally disappeared.......but now i'm seeing their ghosts

  ~Merry
• 
  57

  Disposable People

  by MerryMagdalene in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  since my mom decided she needed to put full shunning back into effect again (an unconscious new year's resolution to be a better jw?

  ), i've been ransacked by a whole bunch of emotions which have been gradually resolving into thoughts.

  the sense of being completely disposable, expendable, replaceable.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  How ironic that this old thread should pop back up today...the day after my JW mother's funeral/memorial service at the Kingdom Hall in the town where she lived most of her life.

  I went to the service a little uneasily, thought my eldest cousin conducted it quite wonderfully, lots of personal reminiscing, and he read something I had written in remembrance of her along with what another cousin's husband had written. At the end he announced there would be a gathering at a private home and everyone was welcome to come. Wow, I thought.Very cool.

  I was lovingly embraced by JWs and non-JWs alike, who knew and loved my mom, everyone in tears and asking if they would see me at the gathering and very glad when I responded I would. I talked my non-JW half-brothers (hadn't seen them in over 20 years) into going too, before being pulled gently aside by a male relative and an elder (the P.O. of the congregation) and informed that it would be better if I didn't come after all--since it wasn't just a family gathering but a congregational thing as well. They were very sorry and hoped I understood and wouldn't feel too hurt.

  LOL. Yes. I understood. But I really felt they should have announced it from the stage: "Everyone is welcome to attend the gathering in memory of XXXX...except her only child."

  I skipped the family picture taking scene, unwilling to stay in the KH a moment longer, went outside and told my brothers what had happened--they were shocked and dismayed--and we decided to have our own little gathering, going to another relative's home for lunch followed by a nice escape to a nearby beach with snacks and cold drinks.

  What surprised me about this was a very dear JW uncle who served as an elder for many years, (our father's brother), came with us. He seemed willing to go wherever I did. When I thought I was going to the first gathering, he said he would too, and when that changed he did too. Amazing.

  I also got to meet a lovely XJW woman who had been a friend of my mom's years ago, still loved her dearly, and was delighted when I told her I was no longer a JW. We're going to get in touch with each other.

  Fortunately, I was able to spend the last 20 days of my mother's life with her, taking care of her, and, for the most part, feeling and sharing nothing but love and courage. It was terrible and it was wonderful, and it was something no one can ever take away from me. I'm glad I didn't cut her out of my life completely after she tried to shun me. I'm glad she called me back to her, even under the WT umbrella of "necessary family business/family emergency."

  I'm not going to let a screwed up religion destroy the love I feel. They can take away everything but that.

  ~Merry
• 
  46

  My dad died....

  by crazyblondeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  since i consider most of you family, i guess i need to unload.

  my dad died.

  i found out by looking under the obituaries online.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  My love and sympathy, Shelley

  I wish we could all be there for you instead of just being here for you, and somehow help to make things better.

  ~Merry
• 
  8

  Prophecor is fine - doesn't have an Internet Connection

  by lawrence in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  howdy all-.

  spoke with prophecor - arthur, this afternoon and he wanted me to let everyone know that he is fine.

  he hasn't been on jwd due to his lack of an internet connection.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  Thank you, Lawrence.

  Miss you and the Mrs., Art. Will give you a call when I get a phone card. Lots to catch up on! Best wishes always.

  ~Merry/Megan
• 
  52

  Thoughts...

  by RichieRich in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  all to often, my mind drifts to my mixed feelings for my mother.

  the deep love that burned in my heart for the woman who had given me life.. the suicidal remorse i felt for bringing such guilt and reproach on her good name.. the blinding anger i felt for her never questioning her beliefs, but always questioning her son.. and so i'm left with a vacuous emotional chamber for a large element that is missing from my soul.. and when you've lost your most valuable possesion, everything else is gravy on an empty plate - pointless.. and so i hurt too, and i love my mom, but does she love me?

  the unanswered question haunts my mind.. we recieve, we give, and sometimes, we just plain screw up.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Merry Magdalene

  Oh, you expressed that so perfectly! I feel for you, because this is just what I felt in regard to my own JW mother for years and years...

  But I will say that just before she died earlier this month, even though nothing of our sweet and painful past was actually resolved, we did get to share some time together in which I knew, without a doubt, her true love for me and she got to know my deep and abiding love for her, apart from everything else that had gone wrong.

  I hope you and your mom, one way or another, sooner rather than later, will be able to share at least one perfect moment of love, free of all the other crap. It is something to treasure. Maybe you already are able to feel at least a lingering touch of it...and maybe she does too.

  ~Merry