Beau Jackson

It’s amazing what you can forget.  I grew up in Southern California, with the smog, and traffic, and hordes of people.  And I forgot about it.

Now I live in rural Missouri on a 13 acre hobby farm.  I only have two neighbors I can even see from my place.  The entire property is fenced, and the driveway is gated.  We’re at least 1/4 mile from a paved road.  When the kids want to go outside, I don’t give it a second thought.  They’re supposed to ask/tell us when they go out, but if they don’t, it’s not a big deal because they aren’t going to go anywhere they could get into danger.

Last Sunday we went to Kansas City to visit some friends.  We’d been there a couple of hours - the adults were talking, the kids were playing, everyone was having a fine time.  Then there was a knock at the door.   It was a police officer, and he was holding my three year old daughter Teresa.  Apparently she decided to go for a walk.  She opened the door and let herself out.

I forgot about living in the city.  I forgot that you don’t just lock the doors to keep people out.  Sometimes you lock the doors to keep people in.  Fortunately, Teresa only got a few houses down the road and somebody spotted her, and didn’t recognize her as one of the neighborhood kids.  This person brought her in and called the police.  Surprisingly, Teresa was able to tell them where she had come from.  She was gone about 25 minutes all told.

All I can do is thank God that she didn’t wander into the street.  It’s a residential area, but our friends street is still pretty busy.  And thank God that the person that found her was a good and caring person.

So I learned a little lesson.  Stay just a little paranoid about where your kids are.  Check on them frequently, and keep the doors locked if your somewhere they could get out and get lost.