A young woman who had been texting her dead father for years finally got a response.
Chastity Patterson coped with the loss of her father Jason Ligons by texting updates on her life to his old number. On the fourth anniversary of his death, she sent a long message to commemorate the occasion, according to a Facebook post.
"Hey Dad, it's ME. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day again!" she wrote. "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 share how she beat cancer, graduated from college with honors, dealt with heartbreak from a relationship and severed ties with old friends.
Patterson's message resonated with the person on the other end, who turned out to be a grieving father who lost his daughter.
"Hi sweetheart, I am not your father, but I have been getting all your messages for the past four years. I look forward to your morning messages and your nightly updates," the man wrote. "My name is Brad and I lost my daughter in a car wreck August 2014 and your messages kept me alive. When you text me, I know it's a message from God."
Brad expressed his condolences and gave Patterson a fantastic compliment.
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 continued.
Patterson shared screenshots of the exchange on Facebook and said it helped her find peace.
"Today was my sign that everything is okay and I can let him rest!" she wrote.
The 23-year-old's post has been shared more than 200K times.
In another post, Patterson revealed Ligons wasn't her biological father but that he took on the role after he saw her at the skating rink where he worked.
"He never missed a school dance, prom, my games and YES he would give me long talks about my mouth and attitude," she wrote. "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. I've cried with him, told him everything and even became very independent because he took the time to love me and show me what happiness looks like," she wrote.
She also revealed she didn't know anything about Brad outside of their text exchange.
