Pondering, I can see where you have poured your heart into this post especially considering you speak from experience of having lost a child. Thank you for that and I'm so sorry for your loss.
I read your post twice and agree with all your thoughts and questions regarding Ron's latest behavior. I just wanted to add that what really worries me is if it's true he has difficulty being around family because they remind him of Haleigh, how does he cope with having Jr. with him? Would the memory of Haleigh ever cause him to forsake his son or stay away from Jr to make it easier for himself. Poor Ron - NO. Poor Butterbean - YES.
jmo
TY az and ITA, I am really worried about butterbean, but I don't believe that Ron 'copes' better not being around his family because of memories of HaLeigh. It's
MOO that he is going to do what makes him happiest, anybody else be damned and sadly that includes Jr. I don't say that to slam Ron az, honestly I don't. That's just the kind of person I see him as and I have from the beginning and to date he has never done anything to make me feel any differently or see him in a different light.
Of course now that we have reason to believe that Crystal's problems may be bigger than I had originally thought, that certainly doesn't help to ease my mind about butterbeans future as well. I really do feel that GGMS and perhaps TN to a lesser degree are the ones that took care of HaLeigh and Jr for the most part anyway (and prolly still is the main caretaker for butterbean even now) but still az....even if I didn't believe that Ron had something to do with HaLeigh's disappearance (which I do) where is his paternal instinct? Ron is not a child, he has to know how important his presence and just plain stability is to Jr and this is what he does?? :waitasec: So, I really have to believe that he doesn't care...at least not as much as he cares about himself and his needs..and I won't even begin to speculate what I believe those 'needs' to be..
You're right tho, I have no doubt that the fact that I have lost a child colors my view on a lot of things differently than some. Truth is that I also know that after the loss of a child you just can not imagine that you could lose a 2nd baby, not if there is a God in Heaven right? I do believe there is a God and that all things do happen for a reason but it took me a long time to get there. Ron, Crystal and their families have much to be thankful for, they still have BUTTERBEAN and if the 2 of them can't do anything else they need to be rallying around him and putting his needs above all else (aside from helping LE :snooty

Unless I'm mistaken, Ron is not working is he? What could he have to do more important than butterbean? (especially if he feels that there is nothing else that he can add to the investigation) It's not the fact that Ron spent 'a' day w/friends that really disturbs me, nothing wrong with that as long as Jr was taken care of. I couldn't leave him, maybe I'm just funny like that...) But to spend THANKSGIVING w/friends, and apparently Jr wasn't invited, IDK? So you spend the 1st T-D that your daughter is missing without your son and away from your family and what GGMS says is their usual Thanksgiving Day rounds? Because they make you think of your daughter? Heaven forbid that happen, wouldn't want to do that now would we? That doesn't sound odd or anything does it? :banghead: