W13: Not Just A Letterman Jacket
How many of you have lost a loved one, and at some point later, you’ve felt their presence? It happens to a lot of people, either through signs they see or feelings they get…and it’s remarkable. In this episode, we learn about two sons who lost their mother. A deeply religious woman, just before she passed, she told them not to worry, she’d be back to check on them, and they’d know when she was there. Decades went by without any signs, until one day something happened that made the local news channel rush to capture the story.
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W13: NOT JUST A LETTERMAN JACKET
IF YOU HAVE EVER LOST SOMEONE VERY CLOSE TO YOU, YOU’RE PROBABLY NO STRANGER TO THE FEELING, ONE YOU MIGHT GET FROM TIME TO TIME, THAT THEY’RE RIGHT THERE WITH YOU. MAYBE YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A REALLY CHALLENGING TIME AND YOU SEE SOME SORT OF A SIGN THAT REMINDS YOU OF THEM AT EXACTLY THE RIGHT MOMENT, AND IT GIVES YOU THE STRENGTH TO DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. OR MAYBE YOU JUST HAVE AN UNEXPLAINABLE SENSE THAT THEY’RE SUDDENLY AROUND YOU AND YOU CAN ALMOST TALK TO THEM AND KNOW THEY’RE LISTENING.
THESE THINGS THROUGHOUT LIFE THAT JUST ARE TOO COINCIDENTAL CAN COME AND GO, AND IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT, IT CAN CONNECT YOU TO THE PERSON YOU LOST IN A VERY SPECIAL WAY.
THIS IS A STORY ABOUT SERENDIPITY, AND FOR THOSE WHO HAVE HAD DECEASED LOVED ONES SEEMINGLY RE-ENTER THEIR LIVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS, IT MAY BE ABOUT MORE THAN THAT.
EPISODE
IN THE EARLY 199OS, IN SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, JED MOTTLEY, A STUDENT AT CHAPARRAL HIGH SCHOOL, WAS ECSTATIC TO LEARN THAT HE FINALLY MADE THE VARSITY FOOTBALL TEAM. LIKE JUST ABOUT ANYONE WHO SACRIFICED THEIR TIME AND BLOOD AND SWEAT THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER TO FIND OUT THEY MADE THE TEAM, JED THOUGHT THE BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE THE ACCOMPLISHMENT WAS WITH HIS OWN CUSTOM LETTERMAN JACKET.
HE WENT TO THE LOCAL STORE THAT MADE THE JACKETS FOR STUDENTS, FILLED OUT THE FORM WITH HIS NAME, NUMBER, POSITION, AND GRADUATION YEAR, AND PUT DOWN A DEPOSIT.
WHEN THE TIME CAME TO GO PICK UP THE JACKET, HIS MOTHER, GERRY, WITH WHOM HE WAS VERY CLOSE, HAD TO BREAK THE NEWS THAT, WITH ALL OF THE EXPENSES FOR HE AND HIS BROTHER, THE FAMILY JUST COULDN’T PULL TOGETHER THE MONEY THEY NEEDED TO PAY FOR THE JACKET. THEY INFORMED THE STORE THAT THEY COULDN’T AFFORD THE JACKET, AND WHEN THIS HAPPENS, IT’S STANDARD TO REMOVE HIS PATCHES AND RE-STITCH NEW ONES ON, IN ORDER TO SELL THE JACKET TO ANOTHER STUDENT.
FOR YEARS, NEVER GETTING THE JACKET BOTHERED JED, BUT HE MOVED ON. AND NOT BEING ABLE TO GET THE JACKET FOR JED STUCK WITH HIS MOTHER GERRY, TOO, AND IT CAME UP FROM TIME TO TIME.
UNFORTUNATELY, IN 2012, JED’S MOTHER GERRY, BECAME ILL. A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS WOMAN, JUST BEFORE SHE PASSED AWAY, SHE TOLD JED AND HIS BROTHER JOSH, NOT TO WORRY, THAT SHE’D BE LEAVING SIGNS AFTER PASSED THAT SHE WAS STILL WITH THEM.
AS THE YEARS WENT BY, BOTH JED AND JOSH MOURNED THE LOSS OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THEIR LIVES, BUT NEITHER OF THEM WERE GIVEN ANY SORT OF SIGN THAT SHE WAS STILL THERE IN SPIRIT AS SHE’D PROMISED.
JED MOVED OUT TO LOS ANGELES TO BE A MUSICIAN AND JOSH MOVED A FEW HOURS AWAY FROM SCOTTSDALE TO A TINY ARIZONA TOWN CALLED PINETOP, NOT FAR FROM THE NEW MEXICO BORDER.
ONE DAY NOT LONG AGO, SEVERAL DECADES AFTER HIGH SCHOOL AND OVER TEN YEARS AFTER THEIR MOM HAD PASSED, JED’S BROTHER, JOSH, WAS IN PINETOP FINISHING UP SOME ERRANDS, WHEN HE GOT THIS STRANGE URGE TO STOP AT THE TOWN THRIFT STORE, CALLED VETERAN’S VILLAGE. HE SWUNG THE DOOR OPEN AND IMMEDIATELY SAW A RED JACKET ON THE RACK. IT CAUGHT IT EYE BECAUSE IT WAS THE SAME JACKET THAT FOOTBALL PLAYERS ON HIS HIGH SCHOOL TEAM WORE. HE THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY COINCIDENTAL, CONSIDERING PINETOP WAS SO FAR FROM SCOTTSDALE, AND, REMEMBERING THE STORY FROM HIS BROTHER, CONSIDERED BUYING IT FOR JED. AS HE LOOKED CLOSER, HE NOTICED IT HAD #1 ON THE SLEEVE WHICH, WAS FUNNY BECAUSE THAT WAS JED’S OLD NUMBER. THEN HE NOTICED IT WAS THE CLASS OF ’94, JED’S YEAR. HOW RANDOM. WHEN HE LOOKED CLOSER AT THE OTHER SIDE, HE COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT HE WAS SEEING - THE NAME “JED” STITCHED JUST BELOW THE LEFT POCKET.
IT WAS THE SAME JACKET. IT LOOKED BRAND NEW. BUT HOW IN THE WORLD? I MEAN, WHAT WERE THE ODDS?
JOSH TOOK A PHOTO ON HIS PHONE AND IMMEDIATELY SENT IT TO JED IN LOS ANGELES TO CONFIRM IT WAS HIS. JED, MYSTIFIED AND AND ELATED, QUICKLY MADE HIS WAY TO ARIZONA.
THE LOCAL NEWS CHANNEL IN SCOTTSDALE DID AND STORY AND THAT VIDEO WENT ALL OVER THE WORLD. IT WAS FORWARDED BETWEEN FAMILY MEMBERS AND EVEN CELEBRITIES CHIMED IN, INCLUDING TOM HANKS WHO JOKED THAT HE WAS TAKING THE STORY FOR A NEW MOVIE.
WHAT IS IT WITH THINGS LIKE THIS?
IF NOTHING ELSE, THIS STORY, ABOUT A JACKET THAT A MOTHER ALWAYS REGRETTED NOT BEING ABLE TO GET FOR HER SON, A JACKET THAT SHOULDN’T EVEN EXIST, SHOWING UP IN FRONT OF A FAMILY MEMBER IN ONE OF THE SMALLEST TOWNS IN THE STATE, FAR FROM WHERE IT STARTED, CAN HELP US BELIEVE MORE IN THAT STRANGE SENSE WE MAY GET FROM TIME TO TIME.
IT GIVES US HOPE THAT MAYBE THE SIGNS WE SEE OR THOSE FEELINGS WE GET, MAYBE IS OUR LOVED ONE JUST DROPPING IN TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE WHAT WE NEED.