A 23-year-old Arkansas woman is going viral for a text message exchange she had with a stranger while texting her late father’s phone number the night before the four-year anniversary of his death. In an effort to mourn and cope with the loss, she had been texting his old phone number with frequent life updates.
On this particular night in October 2019, Chastity Patterson sent a rather long message to her late father – as she had done for the past four years. “Hey Dad it’s ME,” the message began. “Tomorrow is going to be a tough day again! It’s been 4 years since I lost you and not a day goes by that I don’t miss you.”
She went on to give her father an update on her life since he passed away. In those four years, she had beaten cancer, graduated college with honors, fell in love, had her heart broken, lost all her friends, hit rock bottom, and fell in love again. And while she doesn’t have any children yet, she said she’s ready.
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“I’m afraid of marriage because I’ll have to walk that long aisle alone and you won’t be there to tell me everything will be okay,” she continued – adding that he would be proud of the woman she has become. It was the type of text message we’ve all sent to a friend or loved one who passed away far too soon.
Not long after she sent the message, the unthinkable happened – she received a response. And while it wasn’t her father on the other end of the message, she ended up connecting with a man named Brad – who had been receiving her messages for the past four years, following his own tragic loss of life.
“My name is Brad and I lost my daughter in a car wreck August 2014 and your messages have kept me alive,” he wrote in the heartwarming response. “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.”
He went on to explain how he had wanted to text her back for years, but feared breaking her heart in the process. “You are an extraordinary woman and I wish my daughter would have become the woman you are,” he added – calling Chastity his ‘little angel’ because she reminds him that there truly is a God.
Chastity and Brad’s Text Message Exchange Goes Viral
The day after she received the response, Chastity Patterson took to her social media to share the text message exchange she had with Brad the day prior. She described the exchange as a ‘sign that everything is okay’ and finally feels she ‘can let him rest’ after four years of mourning his tragic death.
“He never missed a school dance, prom, my games and YES he would give me long talks about my mouth and attitude. I had to introduce my boyfriends to him (If I was allowed to date) and he would act like a normal dad and give us the long talk,” Chastity said of her non-biological father, Jason Ligons.
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She posted screenshots of her conversation with Brad in an effort to show her friends and family ‘that there is a God’ and, while it might take four years, he always tends to show up ‘right on time.’ It didn’t take long for her post to go viral, receiving more than 265,000 shares over the course of a few days.
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