One of the hardest things in life any parent can go through is being separated from their kids. This is especially true for mothers and fathers who are in the military. You may have to leave at a moment’s notice with no idea when or if you will return, all in the name of protecting our country. One army mom knows this all too well.

Kathryn Waldvogel was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. The army mom was sent as part of the National Guard’s 114th Transportation Company. She served 9 months there and, like all of her comrades, missed her family every single minute of the day.

Being a mom, she particularly missed her 3-year-old son, Cooper Waldvogel.

“I was longing to hold him, that’s all that I thought about,” the mom told The Military Times.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one feeling the need for a hug. Cooper was so excited to see his mom that he made her break rank by running up to her head-on at full speed while she was waiting in formation to be officially dismissed.

Kathryn’s 1st Sargeant had explained there would be an order to how they were welcomed home.

She and her comrades were to file into the auditorium and stand silent while waiting for dismissal. All of them were cautioned not to say hi to their family members in order to keep things short and sweet. Cooper, though, had other plans in mind.

“All of a sudden we had to file into the building and get into formation, and I just look up and Cooper and my mom are right there. He just kept smiling like he was in awe of me,” Kathryn recalls.

Indeed, how could he not be? His mom made the tough choice of being away from her family for the better part of a year to serve her country. She is a hero.

A photographer with KARE 11 caught the special moment Cooper ran straight into his mom’s arms and shared it to the news outlet’s Facebook page. It wasn’t long before it went viral with tens of thousands of interactions and heartfelt comments.

“This one. It was probably the most tear jerking, humbling 26 seconds I’ve seen in a long time,” Kathryn read one of the comments on the news post.

When the mom thinks about how much love and support she’s been shown, it becomes heart-melting.

“It melts my heart, it’s so great,” she says.

As it turns out, this wasn’t Cooper’s first rodeo when it came to welcoming home a deployed parent.

“He kind of did the same thing for me,” recalls Cooper’s dad, Adam Waldvogel.

Also serving in Afghanistan under the National Guard’s 850th Horizontal Engineers, Adam had returned home to a similar welcome the previous December. With their overlapping deployments, Cooper’s parents hadn’t seen one another in a year and seven months.

“I can’t even imagine that’s she’s home right now,” said Adam of his wife’s return.

Not having been with both of his parents at the same time for over a third of his life, Cooper was beyond excited to finally have the opportunity.

“He’s the definition of resiliency, that’s for sure,” says Adam.

Now that Cooper has his mom back, he’s making the most of every moment.

“Can we play all day?” the sweet toddler asks his mom.

“Sure! What do you want to play next?“

We’re thankful for what Kathryn and all of our servicemen and women sacrifice for our protection and safety. Beyond that, though, we are just grateful to know that she’s back home and soaking up lots of quality time with her number one fan; her son.

To see Cooper’s reaction to seeing his mom for the first time in 9 months, watch the video below.

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H/T: Shareably