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In Reply to: Re: To Joseph posted by WC on October 08, 2008 at 07:54:56:
WC,
Thank you for all the very kind things you have said about me. I appreciate hearing what you think.
I've always had a lot of respect for you as well. I've always just struggled along running NDN with a very dated skill set, learning just enough new stuff to keep the thing chugging away. You have always had a very up to date set of skills that have really been a benefit to this website.
We were more involved with that CM Family than most people really knew. It got to where we would take their entire family on vacation with us each year. I would mostly take the kids out fishing and sight seeing and just do normal things with them. At this point all of those kids except one who is still too young to leave have left the cult. They contact us from time to time and have told me that their experiences with us were some of the only "normal" ones they had growing up. So, I'm happy that some good came out of all of that.
We remained in contact with the parents until after the Ricky Rodriguez murder/suicide. Then all of our contact with members ceased. By then, however, we were pretty clear on The Family, and were beginning to have words with them about things we found unsettling.
The FM Member who started NDN, the very energetic "Barney" hasn't been seen online in years, but he is still actively running his LaurelHome and taking in people for a fee. I was working out of town a few months ago and saw on the hotel TV that his area was being hit by tornados, so I picked up my cell phone and gave him a call. He sounded really shocked to hear from me, but then went into his usual rappid talking about how many people he had living at the home and how many were from The Family, and all the stats. So, the only thing that seems to have changed with him is that he isn't online anymore.
Unfortunately, my company, which is 22 years old is closing. I had to give all of my long time employees notice yesterday. I have a plan to rise from the ashes with a new business plan that will have very low overhead. It works very well on paper, but we will have to see how things actuall go once we are able to do business next year. It's really hard to let go of the old way of doing things, but in this day and age, business as usual doesn't seem to work anymore. I am about to become more of a broker sub-contracting business rather than a contractor with a warehouse full of expensive equipment and an even more expensive union crew to support.
Our other personal challenges include raising a teenager with Bipolar Disorder, which has really changed our lives over the last two years. Being able to work mostly from home is going to help a lot, since it really takes two parents to handle a child with this sort of illness.
All of it put together is pretty overwhelming, and it's the right thing now to let go of NDN. Most of the other Coordinators are having significant events in their lives as well, and nobody really seems to have the ability to put in the day to day work it takes to keep things going there. I think we are all sad, but very relieved that the responsiblity will be over soon.
I wish you the best of luck with this website. I've always admired what you have done here, and the quality of discussion that goes on.
I've been active online for 25 years now, so I don't think this will be goodbye. I'm sure I'll still be active on the ex-member boards. I was never in The Family, but my association with current and former members really did change my life. I'll always be interested in what's going on.
