Saving Baby Jessica

Remember baby Jessica?  While playing with some other children, she dropped 22 feet into a well at her aunt’s house in Midland, Texas, and got stuck.  That was back in 1987.  Jessica was a mere 18 months old at the time.

I woke at 4-something this morning thinking about her.

Why?

I don’t know.

One second my mind is digging carrots in my neighbor’s garden.  The next second it is jamming a stick through the spokes of some kid’s bicycle wheel as he rides past.

So I got up this morning and poked around the web a bit looking for baby Jessica.  I even found a baby Jessica rescue webpage with a timeline and about a gazillion related links.

For those of you unfamiliar, the baby Jessica story is all about the dramatic rescue following her dropping into the well. For the next two-and-a-half days rescue crews, including mining experts, tunneled horizontally through rock to reach the little girl.  Throughout the rescue, Jessica could be heard crying, humming, and singing through a microphone that had been dropped down the well.

Hang on baby Jessica, we are coming to get you!

I spent a few minutes reading through some of the stories about her rescue.  It boiled into a worldwide news phenomenon.  How is it that dozens might die someplace and get little notice, but the baby Jessica story went big?

Actually, I know how.  It was my wife’s fault.  People like her, I mean.  She always held her heart out for children and animals.  She was transfixed by the story.

I even feel a little better for rescuing Jessica a second time this morning.

You’re welcome.

Posted is a recent picture of Jessica I found on the web.

--Mitchell Hegman