Story Archive

That’s Not Helium

Tiffany Bean thought a balloon that floated into her yard in Baytown, Texas, was garbage. Then she saw the note: it had a phone number and asked whoever found it to call and let the sender know where the balloon and its contents landed. Inside the balloon, the note explained, were the ashes of Jack Jackson, who had passed away several years ago at the age of 19. “I didn’t know if she wants his ashes back or what I was supposed to do with it,” Bean said. The sender, Tracey Sanchez, is Jackson’s mother, and said she felt this was a way to find closure in her ongoing struggle with her son’s death. “It would be nice if they could take it somewhere to a river where they are at,” Sanchez said. “Or if they have a flower bed or a garden with tomatoes, vegetables and stuffed herbs... so he could just be alive right there.” A friend of Jackson’s plans to collect the ashes, and then decide what to do with them. (MS/KHOU Houston) ...Or maybe he could call the number and give the mother some closure.