FreeAtLast

Ex: Heart surgery - I had a tumor lodged in the right ventricle of my heart. It turned out to be a fibroma most likely aggrivated by an injury to the heart. This injury occurred during Rodeo School. As for my other woes it seems that to be that my life is governed by the Laws of Murphy. Roller Rink injury: the lawyer I got told me since injury is expected at the Roller Rink those types of cases are hard to win even though there was a gash in the floor that I tripped over. He said that roller rinks are allowed to have a certain degree of fault without fear of lawsuit. So I am stuck with the huge medical bills. Yeah maybe I will run into the guy again, highly unlikely but one never knows these things right?

Point well taken. I wouldn't have ever gotten in the vehicle with him but a date later that week might have been nice.

All great advice. The balance and being bolder. I guess in real life I can be kind of shy. Online it's easy to be bold. GSG: I think you are suffering from heat exhaustion. But thanks. lol

Yeah after having open heart surgery I lost everything and had to claim bankruptcy. After the bankruptcy was final I incurred a few other medical bills for an accident I sustained at a roller rink (no insurance), sporadic unemployment, tax disasters and then an auto accident without insurance and a major bill to repair the other guy's auto. That has made my financial life a wreck. Right now I can't even buy credit. If I could I would. I do agree having a credit card for emergency purposes is not a bad thing. It's when they get abused that they become a problem. Maybe when I am 60 I will be there again. lol.

I have read this before. Thanks for posting.

Guess I am not there yet. Tried to read it but couldn't bring myself to even look at it. Hope they can bring it around.

Ron, Thanks. and Oh it WAS a pickup line but it fizzled out.

mstar1 Aw, Thanks sweetie. that was a thoughtful post. The midwest is generally a friendly place. Topeka is a weird place but this was Bonner Springs Not an area I am completely familiar with but CW knows the area well. Oh well chalk one up to experience right?

Oh I love it that you are all concerned about me. You are a great!!!

Ok guys, I would have never gottenin the guys car. I just wanted to maybe get together with him at a later time for dinner or dancing. My guess was that I looked like a damsel in distress. I would have met him in a neutral location. It's true as women we have to be more cautious. It is rare that women prey on men. There are a few but the greater danger is men who prey on women. Believe me guys I would have NEVER gotten into this guy's vehicle or have let him know where I lived until I was sure of him.

but the rambling makes a lot of sense.

"That the ministry be not blamed".....was something I kept in my heart for so many years and that thinking (ministry be not blamed) kept me from seeing the emotional abuse/supression prevalent in TWI teaching/practice. ILB I know what you mean. But when I left the Way I didn't want my life to be made an example to the believers of how you will get sick if you leave. After my departure from the Way and my divorce I was free to once again pursue medical assistance for a sickness I was dealing with. My ex wouldn't allow me to see doctors anymore. He said I was wasting our money and that there was nothing wrong with me. He went as far as to say if I went that I was disobeying him. Shortly after leaving the Way and leaving him I started seeking help again. It turned out I had a tumor the size of a hard boiled egg lodged in the right ventrical of my heart. As my doctors decided that it was probably instigated by an injury to the heart, I realized that the only time I had sustained such an injury was at Rodeo school and indeed the Way was responsible for my sickness. I didn't want others to fear leaving the way because of my life. So I became vocal about the Way's role in my illness. Well miraculously I came through surgery and I am in excellent shape. And I was fed some dim possibilities. And now my life hasn't become an example of what will happen when you leave the Way. I wanted the ministry to be blamed for the benefit of those struggling with leaving.

STL Thanks for your input. I do the same when I meet guys online. It's always in a neutral location and I meet them there. My friends know about it and sometimes pop by to make sure all is well. You can never be too cautious in this day and time. One guy I met wanted me to come to his house so that he could cut my hair. I didn't go and he got real nasty. Said if he saw me he was going to shave me bald. lol. I am glad I didn't give him any personal information.

I am with you on that one.

CoolWaters: That was interesting. Are you saying that Heat Exhaustion clouded my ability to speak. That's good, let go with that. Yeah!! I haven't lost my touch I was just toooooo hot. Tom: Thanks for you PM. Sent you one back

If they want to learn how to plan and organize then maybe they should live life. Get up get showered get dressed go to work. Don't forget your lunch etc. Seemed like a stretch to make an experience that has turned cold sound interesting. What happened to grow 10 years in 1. lol

Oh I know what you all are saying. On an ex way group I belong to one of the guys thought that he might of thought I was a working girl. lol. But he seemed as nervous approaching me as I was about being approached. It was just a strange situation that I will probably never be faced with again. I guess I found it odd and didn't know how to handle the situation because now days it seems that meeting people outside of work, church, or the internet doesn't happen much. Thanks for all your input guys.

Hey do any of you folks from Minnesota know Michael Patterson. Just wondering what he was up to. He was my younger brother's best friend growing up in The Way

Thanks for sharing your story. It's great to see someone overcome so much. My mom went through some of the alternative treatments you did. Mainstream medicine many times does nothing but cover the symptoms. Kind of like the Way did in the later years. Glad you are on the rise

Well the truck was a personal vehicle that belonged to the guy so it will be hard to trace him. It was a really nice vehicle though. One of the Dodge Ram's but with all the extra special features. It was a forest green color but I was unable to get his license plate number without being completely obvious. It seemed as though he had just stopped there to get a drink rather than this being a regular stopping point for him. I thought about trying to see if I could catch him there again but figured it would be a long shot. But you know in my hot vehicle it might be nice to stop and get a drink there myself on occassion. lol "Seal the Deal" lol. Well I am not into one night stands. I want something lasting and meaningful, but getting my number with the promise of dinner might have been nice. But now it is doubtful that I will ever see him again. I am ok with the money thing because being an independent contractor, I have had this happen before. The only difference this time is I opted to go W2 instead of corp to corp so that I could have consistency in my pay. So much for that.

Ok gang, I need to know what you would have done. This month I have been confronted with a lot of, for lack of a better term, weirdness. I won’t go into it all but one of the events was that although I turned in my timesheet to my employer with the accurate amount of hours they somehow messed up and paid me for 16 hours less than I worked which threw my budget out of whack. They are adding the hours to my next check so I had to work it through until then. I did my best to juggle the funds and was doing alright when two events occurred. First my washing machine broke and flooded my basement. No biggie, I just re-routed some of my gas money and went to the Laundromat. Then the gas company threatened to shut me down a week after I received my first bill. This was all with no warning, the guy showed up at my door and was going to shut it off, so I called the company to complain and they worked it out but I still had to pay the bill in 24 hours. So I took the rest of my gas money to pay them and stop them from shutting me off. (I am still trying to figure that one out.) I found that I had spent all my gas money and I work 71 miles from my house. I tucked my tail and phoned the ex to see if I could borrow some money for gas until I get paid and he agreed. But this guy won’t give you the money and let you be on your way. No! He has to have full control of the situation. I have to meet him at a particular gas station and he pumps the gas. Then as that tank runs out the process gets repeated until my check arrives, I pay him back, and he loses his controlling position. Yesterday I left work early because there was nothing for me to do. I was still waiting on one more piece of software and waiting to meet with another person that could direct my Java work. My boss and I decided I should take the afternoon off. So, at 1:30 I left work to head home. As I got onto the highway it dawned on me that I couldn’t head home without gas and my ex would be at work until 3:30. The temperature was a sweltering 104 with a heat index of 108 and my van has no air conditioning. By the time I reached the gas station in Bonner Springs, our halfway point, I was dripping wet. I went inside but after an hour of waiting I felt as though I had overstayed my welcome and went back out to my car. I sat in the car for 30 minutes and tried to rest my eyes but it was so hot I couldn’t breathe. Finally, I left the vehicle and found a bench in the shade. I pulled out my brush and a hair tie and pulled my hair back in a pony tail. This is my least attractive hairstyle but I didn’t care. My makeup was melting I was dripping and miserable. A diesel pickup truck pulled up in front of the store and a relatively handsome man stepped out. He looked at me and smiled. Embarrassed that I had been caught checking him out, I looked down and smiled sheepishly back. He went in did whatever it was he had come there for and returned to his truck. He turned around in order to smile at me again. Again, not quite so sheepishly, I smiled back. He began to drive off and looked over my way and waved. I giggled smiled and waved back, thinking that would be the end of that. I was jolted into a state of extreme nervousness when he put his truck in reverse, pulled up next to me, rolled down his window, and started to speak to me. I don’t think I have ever been in this situation before. He asked me if I needed a ride. I uttered 2 completely unintelligible half sentences as a poor explanation of why I was sitting on the bench. He smiled, I smiled you know the routine this had been going on since he pulled up. Then he said, “You look good”. Once again I displayed the sheepish smile and the downward glance as I thanked him for the compliment. I was frozen, for the first time in my life I was unable to formulate words, I was unable to think of any word but thank you. He repeated the sentiment “you look really nice.” Again all I could think to say was thank you. Here was a very attractive man that thought I looked good when I thought I looked my worst and I couldn’t formulate words to move this to the next step. Today I am slapping myself upside the head. He left without closing the deal because I was too dumbfounded to respond. Men what would you have wanted a girl to say in that situation? Girls what would you have said? I know I will never see this guy again but I don’t want to miss out again if by some remote chance this situation re-presents itself. I gotta practice for the next time. Still slapping myself!!!

I was in the Way Corps with Jon. I agree a good fella. Still have a painting of an Iris he did for me and it proudly hangs on my wall. Has anyone located him as of yet. Last time I ran into him we were both still in and he was in Florida. Just looked him up in Maryland. If the Jon Touchstone I found is him he lives in Severna Park MD and is unlisted so unless someone has another way of getting to him my search has been stopped dead. If anyone finds him let me know Holly

spent my interim year in Lubbock. let's see that was 86-87. Ended up going LOA because of my experience there. No offense to the state but happiness was Lubbock Texas in my rear view mirror.

My heart goes out to you. I can feel your pain. looking forward to hearing the rest of your story. I

Radar, thanks for the compliment. Hope you have been doing well girl. What inhibitions did I have? Are you referring to anonimity on the G-spot. I guess I only cared before if my big bro caught me out here but I don't give a rat's butt anymore. I haven't been around for a while so I thought I would come out here and check the place out. I had pretty much buried the Way stuff in the back of my sub conscious and didn't want it to re-surface, but lately I have been thinking about it more and piecing things together for myself. Trying to figure out what I believe and it feels more comfortable being out here now. I just try to avoid doctrinal threads and threads where anger surfaces I gotta process these things in my own way. This is probably info for another thread but the past 4 years my life has completely changed considering that the Way was really all I knew. But I am a survivor girl so no more inhibitions. pop me an email sometime and let me know what's up. It's on my profile. Free