Leaving the Church was not an easy journey for which to pack; Mormonism had been my sole spiritual home. I wondered what to take, what to leave behind. Should I slip away quietly in the night, or light fireworks; go it alone, or drag someone with me; ask politely to be excused, or raise the cry of alarm while clinging to my compromised membership, kicking and screaming all the way through the ecclesiastical exit court of love? More important, for me and my circle of loved ones, what were the hidden costs in the way of traditions, virtue, peace of mind, relationships, and posterity? Would there be any welcome surprises?

Brad Morin, D. Jeff Burton