Through the years, lots of people I love have exited the Church Formerly Known as Mormon. While any transition can be temporarily bumpy, their departure from the faith has never changed the way I feel about them and, as far as I can tell, it hasn’t changed the way they feel about me. So that’s a big old win right there.
In the midst of all this leaving, I can remember a fireside my husband and I attended. I wanted to hear the speaker — a family sociologist — talk about rearing teenagers because, you know, teenagers! We had a bunch of them and, believe me, there were plenty of times when I felt like I was in way, way, way over my head.