We all have different ways of coping with a problem or a difficult situation, particularly the passing of a loved one.
One young lady managed to cope by texting her late dad’s number every day. But after 4 years, she finally received a reply – and it’s a bittersweet message from a dad who lost his daughter in an accident in 2014…
Photo credit: Chastity Patterson / Facebook
Chastity Patterson, 23, from Newport, Arkansas has been texting her late father’s number since the day they lost him. She knows, of course, that her dad, Jason Ligons, would never come back or make a reply; yet it comforted her to still feel that he’s around.
On the eve of the fourth anniversary of his passing, Chastity was feeling really sad as she misses her dad. She sent him a rather long text message.
Photo credit: Chastity Patterson / Facebook
“Hey Dad, it’s ME. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day again!” the message began.
She acknowledged that he’s gone and that she’s remembering that day, but writing as if her dad was still around, she recapped the things she had been texting him about the past years. She shared how she had finished college, had fallen in love but got hurt, how she survived a major medical condition, and lost her friends.
But what’s really heartbreaking is that she wrote how she was afraid of marriage because the thought of him not being able to walk her down the aisle is too difficult to bear.
Photo credit: Chastity Patterson / Facebook
Quite amazingly, she received a reply after 4 years of texting the number. Coincidentally, it came from a guy who lost his daughter in an accident in 2014. The guy, named Brad, said that he was devastated when he lost his daughter but when Chastity’s messages soon reached his phone number, she “kept him alive”.
Brad feels that Chastity was sent to him by God as a way to help him cope with the loss of his daughter.
“I’m sorry you lost someone so close to you, but I have listened to you over the years and I have watched you grow and go through more than anyone. I have wanted to text you back for years, but I didn’t want to break your heart,” he explained.
“You are an extraordinary woman and I wish my daughter would have become the woman you are, thank you for your everyday updates, you remind me that there is a God and it wasn’t his fault that my little girl is gone.
He gave me you, my little angel and I knew this day was coming. Everything will be okay, you to push yourself everyday and shine the light God gave you. I’m sorry you have to go through this, but if it makes it any better, I am very proud of you.”
Photo credit: Chastity Patterson / Facebook
It’s amazing that of the thousands of people who could have been reassigned the number of Chastity’s dad, it would be to a many grieving over the loss of his daughter. They’re a perfect match.
Do Phone Companies Reassigned Numbers?
Yes; phone companies reassigned disconnected or canceled numbers to new customers after a period of time. According to Contact Center Compliance, 35 million telephone numbers are disconnected each year, with wireless carriers reassign 100,000 numbers every day.