Jimmy Jett & the Christmas Red Bird‏

by BONNIE BARTEL LATINO

Note: This is an edited version of a true story, which was previously published in Atmore, Alabama, in the December 2004 issue of "atmore" magazine.

I often exchange prayer list names via email with my sister, Aimee, who lives in College Station, Texas. Several years ago she asked me to pray for the son of one of her friends who was also one of her former interior design clients. Their son's name is Jimmy Jett.

When Jimmy was about four years old, Aimee was doing some work for his parents’ home. She’d had a headboard custom made, a quilted coverlet, and lots of pillows. All the bedding was silk and in shades of shrimp and soft peach. Aimee had also designed an entertainment center with a TV on a hydraulic lift that operated by remote control from the bed. When a button on the remote was pushed, the TV came up out of the base of the entertainment center. As any small boy would have been, Jimmy was mesmerized by the electronic gizmo.

One day Jimmy and his cousin took snacks to Jimmy's parents’ room. After crawling into the big bed, they soon spilled chocolate milk and Oreos all over the silk coverlet and pillows. Jimmy Jett's mama was not amused. Everything had to be remade at significant expense.

My sister said Jimmy was constantly into mischief. One day shortly before Christmas, she was at the Jett home and saw a male cardinal perched in a tree in which Jimmy was climbing. Aimee said, “Jimmy's eyes got sooo big when I told him the bird was Santa’s Christmas bird that watched him year ‘round before flying back to the North Pole every December to report to Santa."

The mischievous little boy grew into a young adult, went off to college and played on a football scholarship for the University of Oklahoma. When he graduated, an Army recruiter convinced him he’d “see more of the world as an enlisted man.” The young man took his advice and soon Jimmy Jett found himself sleeping “directly on the ground--in Baghdad.” At that time, his mother told Aimee, with the wind factor, the days in Iraq were often 144 degrees, dropping to 56 at night.

Aimee’s plea for my prayers for Jimmy ended with this thought, “I find myself constantly asking the Christmas bird to go tell God to send His angels to watch over Jimmy. Please help me pray Jimmy Jett home. He will be 27-years-old on December 16 and he is a just a big beautiful spirit-filled soldier with such a darling smile--and a wife and baby daughter who are waiting for him in Germany.”

Jimmy is still in Baghdad serving in the infantry. Please join Aimee and me in praying all of America’s Jimmy Jetts home safely.

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Update: In late 2005, I found myself wondering about Jimmy Jett, so I contacted my sister and asked what he has been doing since he returned to the states earlier that year. Aimee said, “Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans shortly after Jimmy returned from Iraq. He filled up his SUV with diapers, non-perishable foods and many other things and took off to help in Louisiana. He has since taken a job in sales in Oklahoma and is doing well. He and his wife have two darling little girls. Jimmy Jett is a wonderful young man...”

2009 Update: Jimmy and his wife have three little girls now.

God bless Jimmy Jett on December 16, 2009, his 32nd birthday.

Atmore native Bonnie Bartel Latino is a former columnist for Stars and Stripes newspaper in Europe. She is the recipient of the Military Writers Society of America 2009 People’s Choice Award.