I give up! Had major things going on yesterday and tried to catch up this AM for 3 hours. For every page I read, one or more gets added, so I'm jumping ahead to try and just stay a little behind.
Some general comments from reading this AM.
1. Looking at the picture of the car seat at the lowest (newborn) position and the picture of Cooper (probably at a younger age) shows that the belt had been in a higher position to accommodate his size. It sure took planning (premeditation) to lower the straps to secure him tightly. That had to be so uncomfortable for Cooper.
What almost-two-year-old would not wiggle around and make a lot of noise in such a situation? Deaf in right ear or not, JRH just HAD to have heard or felt the child's movements.
2. There's no way this guy doesn't have a sense of smell. I have a friend who, due to surgeries has lost her sense of smell twice. It hasn't returned. Since she can't smell, she has also lost most of her ability to taste food... they are connected. She was very over-weight prior to the surgeries but has lost more than 100 pounds since. The reason? She either can't taste her food or the taste is terrible. She has a hard time eating. JRH doesn't seem to have a problem with his appetite!
3. I don't always trust people's lack of reaction to horrible news. A lifetime of severe anxiety disorder (runs in the family) has affected me in a peculiar way. To avoid anxiety, my brain tends to suppress strong emotional reactions. Where a lot of people will fall apart in a terrible situation, my tendency is to remain calm and cope. Someone close to me dies, my first thought is to say, "What do you need me to do?" And, I am strong in any kind of emergency. It's only that my mind goes first to coping. My body might react with a sick feeling, but my demeanor is calm, cool and collected. Once through the worst of things, my body and my mind fall apart, but only in private. LOL! I worry that, were someone in my close vicinity to be killed, I might be suspected due to my "lack of emotion" which is actually bottled up inside and waiting for a safe place to come out via tears and panic attacks. Thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, things have improved for me as I've reached beyond age 60.
From my personal experience, I am cutting Mom a little slack for the moment. It is possible JRH and she had discussions about his leaving Cooper in the car while he was running errands which sent them both to Google. I also commented way back that her negative view of what Cooper's life was spared from at the funeral may reflect more of her own bad experiences as a child. Also, when she commented that she was "doing it for you" at the funeral indicates to me that, based on her religious beliefs, she felt she had to tolerate her husband's "leadership" in the family. She didn't say she was doing it for herself.
I'd love to know what those closest to her have observed of her demeanor when not in public.
Nevertheless, it's only a LITTLE slack. I can't get over her comment to her husband asking if he said too much.
