Today, Jarvis and his mother are as close as can be. Dietra spends about half of every month living with her son. She helps make sure his bills are paid and house is clean (Gerard pitches in, too), and has her favorite types of fish, and groceries, shipped from Louisiana so that she can prepare meals just how she likes. Sometimes Jarvis invites his teammates over for these home cooked feasts.
He and his mother have been through a lot together, but their relationship has never been stronger. Time heals scars. Age creates perspective. Every day Dietra texts her son that she loves him, and Jarvis, who continues to write lyrics as a way to explore his inner depths, repeatedly uses the word "appreciation" when talking about his mother.
Then again, that feeling is nothing new. Jarvis always felt blessed to have Dietra as a mother, and grateful for the job she did raising two sons all on her own.
Every Friday, according to Dwain Jenkins, Jarvis would quietly put in a request for an extra pair of tickets for that night’s Lutcher football game. It wasn’t for his mom, who already had her seat, or any other friends or members of his extended family. Instead, and unbeknownst to anyone else, Jarvis would take these tickets and seek out a single mom, one whose son wanted to attend the game. He didn’t publicize the action or tell anyone what he was doing. Jenkins only heard about it because a parent who was once on the receiving end of these gifts had shared the story.
All Jarvis wanted was to make the lives of these mothers a little easier. All he wanted was for these mothers to be able to come home and make their children smile.
