The Good Stuff: “I Love You, Jake”

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — In the weeks leading up to Christmas as those Amazon packages started piling up, it was the smallest of those boxes that ended up filling the biggest hole in Heather Bergren’s heart.

“I ordered a bunch of Christmas stuff,” recalled Heather, who says it was days later before she opened one particular box that stood out among the others.

“It was addressed to me with no return address, which I thought was weird.”

After opening the box, she discovered another box wrapped in tissue paper.

She says when she opened the second box and saw it was from the Shreveport jewelry store Lee Michaels, “I was truly stunned,” she exclaimed, unaware of who would send her such a gift.

Inside, was a small red jewelry box containing a pair of pearl and diamond earrings.

But also in that box was a note that she felt would surely clear this all up.

“I know it’s been a year and I know it’s been a rough one,” Heather began, reading the five-sentence note aloud.

“You’re doing an amazing job with everything,” she continued, each word becoming more and more emotionally hard to read.

It was a note from her husband, Jake.

Jacob Nolan Bergren, who passed away Jan. 28, 2020, after a three-month battle with cancer.

“I’m sorry I can’t be there for Christmas, but know that I am always there with you,” Heather continued.

With every sentence, she felt more and more confused. How could her late husband, Jake, send her a package with a note inside nearly 12 months after his passing?

“Tell the kids Daddy loves them and tell them I’m always watching, so they better be good,” the note concluded, signed, “Merry Christmas. I love you, Jake.”

Understandably, Heather was shocked to receive such a package from anyone, much less her late husband.

“It’s crazy how grief makes you process things because it makes no sense,” a tearful Heather explained.

Worth noting, Heather says Jake, who was a Caddo Parish sheriff’s deputy, also worked an off-duty security job at Lee Michael’s. But she says employees there and their mutual friends claim they had nothing to do with this package.

But the real mystery behind the timing of these earrings may be not be the fact that they arrived right before Christmas, but the fact that she received them just two weeks after losing an earring from the pair Jake gave her 10 years ago for Christmas.

“Even though it brought up a lot of emotion, I can just smile,” shared Heather.

“Even from Heaven, he’s being Jake, you know, giving me a reason to smile. That’s what he did all the time, you know.”

Copyright 2021 KSLA. All rights reserved.