Posted by:
Phantom Shadow
(
)
Date: April 17, 2019 05:58PM
Popped in to check up on posts here today. Elder Berry's post got me thinking about old friends and acquaintances who have died--some who were surprisingly active and some who I wouldn't have predicted would leave, who did leave. (I belong to my class website, so get notified whenever a former classmate dies.)
Yup, April 17 was the day I told the RS president I wasn't even going to be a visiting teacher any more. She didn't say much to dissuade me. And I quit going to church as an active member, although I did attend a couple of times before we moved away 8 months later.
It wasn't until I found rfm at the end of 2002 that I learned I could resign without being excommunicated. So I did.
I have a friend who left 16 years before I did. We still get together and Skype several times a month. Once in a while we exchange Mormon news and gossip and reminisce and laugh about the good times, the bad times, the broken hearts. . . We are at an age where rehashing old stuff is fun for those who lived it together, but our kids don't want to hear about it.
We were so active, so busy with church, so many parties and dances, dates, sleepovers, and more parties. It is a bit sad to find out here that the church is a shell of what it once was. It may have been constricting, but we still had fun.
We also talk about the damage the church did to our lives and families, and how so many years later, we make discoveries about ourselves that go back to how we were raised to believe.
I've learned a tremendous amount here from all of you. I've read the books some of you have written, and the articles and blog posts. I've also found a couple of relatives and made some good friends.
Thank you to Jerry for sending us a copy of his book Twentyhundred--so great to see it in print! I enjoyed Cheryl's book, and have fallen behind on Donna's--can't wait to get to her latest mystery.