I first met Jason when my family moved to Denver so my parents could work at MMI. We were neighbors with the Philipps family and Jason was so adorably awkward. Eventually, he became mine and my sister Sarai’s little brother. 

We lost touch over the years, but he found me on Facebook after my sister Sarai passed away and reached out to see how I was doing. It meant so much to me. Jason’s heart was huge and I could feel his love in his encouraging words. 

I have some comfort that he is reunited with his Momma and that him and my sister are catching up. 

My heart is with his family as they navigate this profound loss. 

In 1999 after the release of the Boeing 777, United Airlines in celebration of their non stop service from Denver, Colorado to London’s Heathrow airport offered $99 round trip tickets. So my parents, Jason and myself decided to go spend 6 days in the UK.  After a 5 hour delay we finally boarded our flight, with my brother and I in coach and my parents upgraded to business class.  Jason spent the first couple of hours meeting, talking to, and introducing me to everyone who was in ear shot of our seats.  After there was no one left to meet.

“I’m going up to sit in business class.”

“They’re not going to let you sit up there.”

“Sure they will.”

“No they won’t.”

Jason gets up from his seat, walks down the aisle, and through the curtain.  He comes back about 40 minutes later.

“How was business class?”

“The stewardess kicked me out.”

“I told you they weren’t going to let you sit up there.”

“Sure they will.”

 After about 5 minutes of silence.

“I’m going to go talk to the pilot.”

“About what?”

“Ask him if I can sit in business class.”

“They’re not going to even let you talk to him.”

“Sure they will.”

“Good, luck.”

He gets up a disappears through the curtain once again.  Two and a half hours later my brother comes back and flops down in the seat.  

“How was business class?”

“They kicked me out again, still won’t let me sit up there.”

“Then where have you been for the last two hours?”

“Oh, I was in the cockpit talking to the pilots.”

This visit with me lasted about 20 minutes.

“I’m going to go back up there.”

“To the cockpit?”

“No, to business class.”

“They are not going to let you sit up there.”

“Sure they will”

 I did not see my brother again until the pilot came on and made the announcement for us to prepare for landing, when he came through the curtain with a small trash bag in tow.  He sits down and drops the bag in my lap.

“How was business class?”

“So much better than coach.”

“What’s in the bag?”

“Take a look.”

“Why do you have a trash bag full of shooters?”

“Made friends with the stewardess.”

We landed and got off the plane and I got stuck explaining to customs why I had over a hundred miniature bottles of alcohol and what purpose I had in bring them into the country.

My brother Jason loved life and love people.  He loved meeting them and loved hearing their story.  He will be greatly missed.

Jason would call me about every 6 months or so just to catch up and say hi. This happened over the past few years. It was always a delight to hear his voice. He was so loving and kind. He recently shared some business ideas with us recently that we felt was an answer from God. But most of our discussion was about his journey to healing and drawing closer to God. He was inspiring and I was so happy to hear he was doing better. I am so thankful for his love and generous spirit. He definitely left an imprint on my heart.