Posted by:
catnip
(
)
Date: May 17, 2018 02:48AM
I have never liked the taste of coffee. I came from a tea-drinking family, though, and I missed my iced/hot tea very much for the 17 years I was a Mormon.
The first iced tea as I was steering my way out was HEAVEN!! It took a while before I dared to order my first Margarita in ages, and it tasted wonderful! I come from a long line of alcoholics, so after going through a couple of horrific hangovers in college, I learned about moderation, and stick to the single-drink rule.
I think my DH was a little bit shocked at first. After a few years, he ordered something alcoholic once. I don't remember what it was, but he wasn't that impressed, and has not done so since then. I'm pretty sure that he backed off not because of the WoW, but because he genuinely did not enjoy the beverage. That's OK. Like me, he came from a long line of alcoholics. Neither of us needs that kind of craving.
While he remains a TBM at the core of his being, he has eased away from many of the sillier prohibitions. He no longer worries about watching an R-rated movie if he thinks it is worth seeing. He is inactive, and doesn't seem to miss the Mormon merry-go-round.
I think it was amazing for him to realize that you can "believe" without caving in to all of their silly little rules. When I took two months off back in 2006 to rampage through Europe, he was still working. Apparently, the church took that opportunity to love-bomb him half to death. They were so blatant in their effort to separate us that he was shocked, and he told them so. They backed off.
(I only heard about this in bits and pieces, after I came back home. I inherited some family money, and was already retired. I wanted to wait until he, too, was free to go, but he insisted, wisely, that I go without him. It was MY dream, Item One on my Bucket List, and had been, since my childhood. He pointed out that if I went by myself, my budget would stretch farther, and I could see more places. It was terrifying, at times, but a genuine dream-come-true.)
Already a "recovering Mormon" by then, I sampled marvelous local wines in France and Italy, saw all kinds of things that I had only read about in books - it was wonderful. I'm glad that I wasn't hamstrung by the WoW by then. One couple I became friendly with in Italy and Greece asked me what church I belonged to. I told them I was a recovering Mormon. They looked at each other and laughed. The wife said, "I guess that makes us 'recovering Catholics.' " They were finding their way out, too.