It takes a lot of physical and emotional strength for our brave military families to do their job and their willingness to sacrifice is something which inspires us a lot.
For one Military mom who was deployed in Afghanistan for the last 9 months, her 3 children displayed great strength and resilience all through her absence till her return.
Sgt. 1st Class Zerphlee Watson had been serving in the army for the last 15 years and after being away from her 3 kids for the last 9 months, it was about time for her to return and surprise them all at school.
Watson said, “I just wanted to surprise them because oftentimes we forget how resilient military kids are, that was my fourth deployment, third combat,” she said. “So definitely they were scared.” Her children had to go through long periods of absolute no contact with her as she could not call them to let them know she was ok.
When the time came for her to return home, she began by surprising her daughter, Janiyah, a student at Smiths Station Junior High School in Alabama. What Janiyah thought was going to be a video interview for the school newspaper, was actually going to be the sweetest surprise for her in a long, long time.
Posted by Watty Watt on Friday, September 21, 2018
She wasn’t so concerned much about the video camera rolling in the cafeteria, but when the student reporter told Janiyah to turn around, she shrieked with excitement at seeing her mother’s face. Watson was in her Army uniform and was excited to see her daughter and take her in her arms.
Then, Watson went to her youngest daughter Jakylah’s elementary school classroom and entered inside it without her noticing, but as soon as Jakylah saw her, she leaped into her mother’s arms, wrapping her entire body around her mom in a big bear hug.
From there, Watson finally went to her son’s high school, who was busy in the middle of a faculty and student basketball competition in the gym. Jayden was blindfolded as part of the game and walking on his hands toward his mother who was sitting in a chair. As soon as he saw her he gave her a shy wave and a quick hug, admitting later that he felt embarrassed by the surprise.
Jayden asked his mom later, “Do you know the girls that were in the gym?” In the end, all three of the kids, were very grateful to have their mom back home with them.