Of Course She Did...

As I did my usual crawl across the headlines this morning, I saw that Casey Anthony refused a visitation with her mother, Cindy, on Friday morning.

Of course she did.

Are you kidding me? Can you imagine how afraid Casey is to face her mother? How uncomfortable that would be?

It could go one of two ways, or a mixture of the two. Cindy could go in with all guns blazing, "You know you did something to cause harm to Caylee/you've destroyed our family/who do you think you are/how dare you accuse George and Lee of the unspeakable," etc. and let Casey really have it, one last time, because I will be surprised if there is any more contact once Casey is released.

Or, Cindy could really mess with her and be compassionate. "We love you any way. We don't love what you did, we don't love the lying, but we're family and can work it out..." What would that do to Casey!? A fin of guilt might actually break through her soul's murky, liquid surface.

She can't afford to face either an angry Cindy or a loving Cindy. She is too afraid.

Casey has single handedly ticked off a good portion of the country. I've known bad-check-passers, liars, druggies, thieves and people who are poor at the art of parenting. I've worked with hundreds of people over the years and have had lots of friends from all different kinds of backgrounds. I even had a good friend - actually, one of my close friends from high school - who innocently got caught up in something shady but then lied to a police detective about it (we had a falling out about that, actually, and it ended our friendship). She was not a bad person...just young and dumb and scared - and it wasn't life or death or anything. Forgivable. Stuff happens. Life happens. People make bad choices and I think most folks are rational and can see the good through the bad and give folks a second chance...maybe even more.

But NO ONE can forgive someone who doesn't report his or her child dead or missing for a month. No one can forgive someone who creates layer after layer of unbelievable story to cover up the facts. No one can forgive someone who parties for days straight instead of telling the truth and beginning the grieving process.

That is what everyone is angry about...the intentional quality of all of this. And Casey's general lack of regard, punctuated by smiles and buoyancy in the courtroom.

No matter how your child died, how could you ever smile again? Or wink? Or plead innocence? Or party? You'd move on as best you could, but not the evening after the child's death, not the month after, and you surely wouldn't be so stoic or joyful in the courtroom...would you?