No one noticed it but me. But it did not go uncelebrated and unaccounted for.
When I was 19, I attended my last meeting while vacationing on a tropical island with my family. I knew it was going to be my last meeting for about a month, when I decided I was bagging the religion for an actual life. My mom is the JW, and although she didn't know my plans at that time, she found out as soon as we got back (oh, that explains why my daughter broke out the bikini on the beaches instead of that modest one-piece I picked out for her at the Mode O' Day...).
That was 19 years ago. About two weeks ago was the day that marked my transition from more of my life as a Jehovah's Witness to more of my life not a Jehovah's Witness.
And even thoug I totally did not plan it, I was on the same tropical island! I was on a vacation with my family (the same one). I didn't pick the location myself, an unaware uncle did. But at just the right moment, I did drop the bombshell on my mother (the JW) while enjoying a particularly rummy tropical view.
"Mom, do you realize that exactly half my life ago, we were here together vacationing? I was 19 and now I'm 38, and here we are again, in the exact same place." I watched carefully for her expression to cloud. And it did, but only for a second. Then she was back to her compartmentalized droid self.
Shoshana
Of the "still knows how to twist the knife" class.