Yo Terry,
Happy birthday! You and I have so many things in common and I 'd really like to meet you someday. I will be 71 next month. I was imprisoned for failure to report during the Vietnam war. 16 months at Safford, AZ. I married young, pioneered (100 hours a month), was a janitor, was an elder for many decades, excelled early as a "golden boy" in the wt organization, have 4 fantastic kids and 7 neat grandchildren.
I really enjoy the way you can put words together and make stories of your life interesting to others. Unlike you, however, I have remained married for the past 51 years to my lovely, but stillin, wife. We often have meaningful discussions about "Whatever happened to us on the way to Armageddon?" lol
She often wonders how I could leave the 'troof' after spending my whole life as a dub. I always answer her by asking who it was that told us, as young 20 year olds, that "you will never get old in this system". Who told us that without fail "this system will end in our 20th century".
For the past 7-8 years since I resigned as an elder and began my journey away from the wt organization, I have come to see life as it really is and it's not all bad. I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and am in good shape for a 70+ year old. I've made several new friends at the gym and most are much younger than me. I have time for sports and my hobby of restoring vintage motorcycles. Since I've ventured outside the borg I've found a brave 'new world' full of fun and exciting things to do and experience.
Your life is certainty not over and please find time to keep contributing here. Get to the gym and build yourself up. It truly is amazing how physical exercise can change your whole mental outlook.
Again, happy birthday and I really do hope to meet you someday. I live in northern California.
just saying!