Cherry Pits

An article in today's Twin Cities Business Journal about the Jacob Wetterling Foundation being renamed sent me careening into the past.  It was October, 1989, when Jacob Wetterling, just 11 years old, was chosen over his 10 year old brother and 11 year old friend to be abducted by a man who just stepped out of the woods.  Jacob and my son were the same age.  Jacob's family lived in the safety of rural and small town America where people left their doors unlocked when they left for the evening.  Jacob would be 28 now but has never been found.  No clues.  No trace.

When real estate agents discuss the difficult issues of how to market a house that has had personal tragedy and what to, or not to, disclose, the seller is often leaving because of the personal tragedy  experienced in their home.  Seldom do we explore reasons why people choose not to move.  Patty and Jerry Wetterling have chosen not to move, not to escape the sadness of their location and home.  The reason wrenches my heart.  They choose to stay because when, or if, Jacob returns their home is the only place he would be able to find them.  They have kept the same phone number for the same reason despite the horrible prank calls from people pretending to be Jacob.

At the time of the kidnapping, I watched Patty Wetterling age.  Her life prior to that day had appeared to be a bowl of cherries.  I could empathize.  What would I have done?  Patty chose to stay the course and fight.  She took the cherry pits left in her bowl and began pitching them one by one at the legal system.  She gave up PTA and lobbied nationally for better legislation to register sex offenders and better systems to alert the public to a lost child.  Whether you agree with her politically or not, the mother in me admires her staying the course for the sake of her son Jacob and others like him.  In their case, real estate is not about moving, but about staying and remaining constant . . . just in case.

(c) Bonnie Erickson 2006

Comments

[Bonnie Erickson]

August 14, 2006

Some things supersede politics and a family's love is one of those things. Jacob happened to be well published because of his family. There are others who have disappeared and few outside of their immediate sphere ever know. With Jacob's case, we all lost a little bit of our innocence, especially those with kids. I applaud the work that your foundation is still doing to stand as advocate for the innocent.

[Nancy Sabin]

August 14, 2006

Thank you for your kind, insightful and supportive words for missing kids and for the Wetterling Family. Yes, they went through things the rest of us cannot comprehend. Yes, they never moved and proudly stay where Jacob could find them again. Yes, most of us have benefited from the tireless work they did through the years for all missing or exploited kids. And yes, it is the story about cherry pits.....not only a mother's pits, but those of a father's and Jacob's siblings let alone the ripple affect that the whole community has faced. Bless your heart for remembering Jacob, his family and this heinous crime. Thank you for supporting our work and what we need to do to continue moving forward to protect all kids. And you're right, it is not a story about political beliefs....because after all kids don't really have those....they're just kids.

Sincerely,

Nancy Sabin, Executive Director of Jacob Wetterling Foundation

[Anonymous]

August 4, 2006

WOW----------------------WHAT AN EMOTIONAL BLAST TO THE PAST. I DO REMEMBER ALL THE PUBLICITY ABOUT THAT KIDNAPPING. I WOULD AGREE WITH THE MOTHER IN THIS SITUATION. WHAT LOVE SHE HAS FOR JACOB.

[Maureen McCabe]

August 4, 2006

I remember that. I remember driving through Chicago and seeing a poster about Jacob within the year after he was kidnapped. Things have come a long way in the years since, Megan's laws, Amber alerts, sex offender lists... Parents with missing kids still have to feel helpless but we have come a long way because of the activism of these kid's parents.