Just weeks after gushing over girlfriend Colleen Conrad's birthday, Jon Gosselin is spending quality time with his family on July 4th.
But wait ... where is Collin?
Jon Gosselin shared this sweet family photo just a day late, on Sunday, July 5.
We see him and his girlfriend, Colleen Conrad.
Sandwiched between them is his daughter, Hannah, who is looking so grown up at 16. (Feeling old yet?)
"Happy Fourth of July to every one!!!" Jon proclaims int he captions of the photo.
"Sorry for the late post!!!" he expresses.
Honestly, we appreciate Jon's very earnest use of exclamation points. It makes him seem relatable.
"Collin had other plans with his friends this weekend," Jon states.
He explains "that’s why he is not in the picture."
Jon then uses parenthesis to note: "(shame I have to explain all that, but I just did)!!!!"
In other words, he is well aware that people will ask why Collin or Hannah might not appear in any given photo.
Individual fans may feel like they're just asking polite questions because they are interested in the Gosselin family.
But when thousands of fans ask the same question, reality stars -- even former reality stars -- can feel as though they are being mobbed.
Jon has been famous for over a decade, now.
He is well aware of the questions that fans are bound to ask, and happy to preempt those questions where appropriate.
We should keep in mind that we are not entitled to have all of our questions answered simply because Jon chose to answer this one.
Of course, answering one question sometimes invites fans to ask more, so we'll go ahead and preempt some other questions ourselves.
For example, yes, this photo was snapped at Back Bay Ale House.
No, Hannah was not drinking. Plenty of ale houses and breweries cater to families and serve, you know, actual food.
A commenter (perhaps jokingly) asked what kind of tattoo Hannah has gotten.
Jon replied with a comical "ahhh! no!!" like any parent who experiences emotional anguish upon their child growing up.
(Hannah is 16 and would of course need a parent's permission to get a tattoo)
It's great that Collin has made new friends and is enjoying his life of freedom.
It's also not much of a surprise that he is socially flourishing -- at least, not to people who never believed Kate's claims about him.
A lot of people struggle to recover psychologically and emotionally from being institutionalized. We are glad that Collin is able to be a normal teen.
Of course, while Collin's resilience is to be praised, we should remember that it is Jon who is allowing him to be himself and live his life.
Kate shipped him off to an institution, causing him to miss vital life milestones, family birthdays, and more during his confinement.
Jon set him free and is helping him to live his life as, you know, a human being instead of the problem that Kate viewed him as being.
As happy as Jon is to be able to give Collin and Hannah this space to be their teens, we know that it must be difficult.
The four other sextuplets and the twins remain wrapped around Kate's finger.
We hope that, with years of therapy, all of the Gosselin children can be themselves and make choices like Collin and Hannah are now able to.
