We've all heard custody battle horror stories. Dad won't stick to a consistent bedtime. Mom badmouths the stepmom. But the story of Kristine Cushing, stepmom who killed her own two kids and now shares custody of her teenage stepsons with her once ex-husband -- much to their mother's chagrin -- might just take the cake.
Cushing was sent to a mental institution for four years after she was declared not guilty by reason of insanity in the deaths of 4-year-old Stephanie and 8-year-old Amy. In the midst of a divorce, suffering from a heart condition, and severely depressed, Cushing shot her daughters in the upstairs of their home. But that was 20 years ago.
Today she and her ex-husband, John Cushing Jr., are back together. And a court has ruled that she is perfectly fit to be around John's children that he had with his second ex-wife, Trisha Conlon. Apparently she's already been around them for three years, forcing the boys to lie to their (real) mom to cover it up.
All this begets only one conclusion: John Cushing is either a better human being than me or the worst dad on the planet.
He hasn't just forgiven his first ex-wife of killing some kids. That in and of itself would take something superhuman. I see the words "killed" and "kids" in the same sentence, and I'm running in the other direction. Finding it in one's heart to forgive, that makes a man better than ... well, most of us. Just look at how 99.9 percent of America treats Casey Anthony, despite her not guilty verdict. We don't forgive kid killers, whether we KNOW they did or just really, really, really think they did it.
But John Cushing takes it one step further. He's forgiven her of killing THEIR kids. Flesh of his flesh. Bone of his bone. The children he was supposed to love and cherish forever. Again, you can call him superhuman. A better man. A bigger man. I couldn't do it. You mess with my child, and you'd better be dead when I find you ... I'm only slightly exaggerating.
The thought of cozying up to your kid's killer leaves me cold. And John Cushing goes yet one MORE step. He forgives Kristine Cushing for killing their children, and now he allows a kid killer to hang out with his living, breathing kids from his second marriage. He even forces those kids into the dubious situation of having to lie to their mom about it, obviously proving he knows that what he's doing is somewhat imprudent.
Add up the evidence, and Kristine Cushing doesn't look like such a good person to be around kids, but her husband doesn't seem like he's such great shakes either. He seems to lack the sense to put his kids FIRST, his love life second.
What would you do if you were John Cushing?
Image via notsogoodphotography/Flickr