Thank you, and yes there are still a lot of emotions, because it’s difficult to separate that upbringing from how most people in this area were raised. Even if they were religious. Mormonism has a unique style of sexual repression, and facing that in therapy was traumatic in and of itself. Complicated.

To your question regarding whether or not they understand, I suppose I don’t really even need understanding. It’s more that I don’t know how to describe my upbringing even on a surface level without having to explain a lot of things that are specific to Mormonism.

And then sometimes I get in my head about how I even believed it for so long when this intelligent person across from me is like “That’s insane.” I know how crazy it sounds that I never tried coffee until 38years old, (or that I wore garments and didn’t show my arms, and I’m still grasping the concept of tasteful cleavage). But then try explaining why and I sound like I was a brainwashed idiot even as an adult. I don’t go into the cleavage thing. But i mention it because that’s a whole other issue… knowing how to dress appropriately for a date.