Yesterday I visited the one and only sister I talk to. We're close and she, like me, have been through a lot. Through counseling and each other's support we've been able to be pretty much the only two siblings (out of 7) that have been able to be and remain closer.

Yesterday she told me something I didn't know. When she was 18 I know that my parents retired and moved to another state and she stayed. At that time I was dealing with a lot of crap myself so I wasn't there for her they way I wanted (and later was).

She told me that my parents left her on the streets for 3 days. She was homeless for 3 days. I never knew that. My parents were "disappointed" at her because she did not want to go back to be a Jehovah's Witness as they were. She told me that the elders in the congregation advised my parents to wait till she was 18 to leave her out. And they did.

Then when my sister was 32 - after ending up in a domestic violence situation, scammed out of $2,000, having to go to court to prosecute the a-hole that beat her, then sharing a room with me in a drug and bum infested "hotel", both of use living out of her part-time $7/hr job, taking care of me unable to work, depressed and having PTSD episodes - I was now back on my feet, back on track, on good treatment, prospering, she had her now husband and new family, a degree in Graphic Arts and a great well-paying job at a comedy-related TV network.

We came out stronger than ever (though still with issues to deal with), and we have managed to put our lives together with each other's support. Definitely not perfectly but we've had many great moments with joy and laughter.

14 years after leaving her on the streets left to her own devices, our mother decided to call her to ask how she was doing. And she had "good news". The Jehovah's Witnesses changed their policies on people they shun away and now she can call her, so she was expecting my sister to be very happy about it.

My sister of course confronted her about their decision when she was 18. My mother tried every excuse, every guilt trip, every Bible passage, every Watchtower article, every trick she had used in the past to shame us and psychologically abuse us. My sister didn't fall for any of them. I mean, 14 years of good recovery and taking care of ourselves on our own is more than enough time to know what to say if abusers come back for more abuse. After that conversation my mom never called her again.

Then about a year after that, my father called her. My father is a religious fanatic jackass depraved pedophile who believes that his magic Jehovah makes everything he does right. So my sister was on her way to her husband's aunt's birthday and she told my father. The Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays (some stupid BS nonsense about that's supposed to be a sin or some shit I no longer care to remember).

So when he heard what my sister said, he said that she was being disrespectful to him! My sister said, "you asked me how I'm doing and what I'm up to. Well, I'm fine and going to a birthday party that I planned." He tried to start preaching to her! She told me that she only said "how pathetic" and hung up.

Now I really understand why my parents ask me about her when I talk to them, and why my sister forbid me to tell them anything, which I respect and do of course.

I feel happy that my sister got it right. I'm glad that she told me and that we have developed the sibling closeness that we meant to have. She is doing the right thing, and she cut the ties with our parents as I should have.

As sad as it is that I have to talk about my own parents the way I have to, we both know that cutting ties with the rest of our Christian-for-when-it's-convenient-to-them-only family was the right thing. And I feel the luckiest man alive to have a sister like her. She's the best and stronger woman I've ever had the pleasure to know in person.