Dover Daze

1979.11.28

MFT is officially behind me. I'm part of the Indianapolis church center now. My leader is Carl. There are seven sisters. I'm the only brother. My day-to-day activities haven't really changed all that much, just my official status. I still drive when we need to go fundraising, which is every few days at least, and I spend most of my time on restoration of the center. There's no shortage of things that need attention.

Right now I'm taking off from Philadelphia, heading home to Indianapolis via Pittsburgh. I just spent a week in Dover with the folks, which was a little underwhelming but I wasn't really expecting too much.

I flew from Indy to Atlanta a week ago. The folks drove down from Dover. We spent Thanksgiving with Gayle and her fiance, David Merrefield, who got married the next day. Gary was there with his girlfriend, Pam Franz. Looks like they might be getting married sometime next year.

The trip was enjoyable. Drove back to Dover with the folks on Saturday and spent Sunday, first at the Presbyterian Church where we had always gone while growing up, and then up to Newark to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Emma and cousin Janie, who looked better than I remembered.

Probably the most unusual thing is I saw Leslie's father at church in Dover. He and her mom got divorced. He seemed genuinely happy to see me, which surprised me. Our relationship had never been good. I took the opportunity to apologize to him for the way I was before when Leslie and I were together. I know some of the things we did must have hurt him very much, and I wanted him to know I was sorry about it. But instead he wanted to apologize to me. Not sure what for. It was good to make amends after all these years.

He called the next day to give me Leslie's address and phone number in Laurel, Maryland. But I threw it away. I knew having it would be a temptation. I still miss her sometimes and I know I'd eventually want to contact her. I don't see how any good could possibly come of that. I hated to do it, but I couldn't keep it.

I took a stroll around Dover. It really hasn't changed much. There were a few familiar faces, but I hardly remembered any names. No matter, though. I didn't really want to meet anyone. People are underwhelmed by me being a Moonie. Nobody knows where I'm at. They don't know what to say. It's just awkward. I completely understand what it's like for them, but I can't do anything about it. I'm doing what I believe is right, even if everybody else thinks I'm brainwashed. I know from lots of frustrating experience that I cannot fix that perception. So I don't dwell on it too much. I've learned to live with it.

I saw Greg Caputo's older brother Joe at the high school, where he's a teacher. He also seemed underwhelmed and uncomfortable, so I didn't stick around.

The plane is landing in Pittsburgh now. I'm ready to be back in Indianapolis.