Hi,

I can see that there's not much activity in this tribe, but still the title makes me curious to see who's out there.

My parents were fundamentalist missionaries. I was born in Morocco, spent some time in Israel's West Bank, did a lot of moving from state to state when we weren't abroad. My parents were intelligent, charasmatic, and a bit... well... from my perspective... carried away.

I understand why they believed the way they did, with so much ferver and so little doubt, but it didn't suit me, and the differences were too much for them to tolerate. So now we're estranged. Went through a time of being disowned which sort of evolved back into a talk-about-the-weather sort of thing, which in my opinion is better than strife on the one hand or absolutely no contact on the other. It's good to focus on what can be rather than what can't.

It this point in my life, it's clear that I got away unscathed, but I went through a time went I was afraid I wouldn't get over the loss of my family and the search for my own way. Now I see that this was just an exaggerated variation on the usual theme of growing up.

At the Christian schools I attended, we had to wear long, lose-fitting, high-necked, arm-covering dresses. Now when I go to burning man and cavort in the desert with all the lovelies in various states of glorious undress, I sometimes think of the old days and blow my own mind with it.

Amazing, isn't it? The staggering variations on the living of life we human beings can come up with.

kat