Soldier returns home early and surprises his mom at her tennis match
Greg Graham’s son had already deployed to Afghanistan twice by November of 2013. But now, millions of people have watched him return home.
All military reunions are special to watch – and if you like them, there are HUNDREDS on YouTube! It seems nearly every soldier has a camera in their hands when they reunite with loved ones.
And this one is just as sweet as the next, in part because it was a huge surprise for Graham’s wife.
In a video that has now been viewed well over 4 million times, he wrote:
“Our son returning home after his second deployment in Afghanistan. Mom thought he was going to be there for another month. She was really surprised. Thank you to all of our troops who protect us everyday.”
It all starts off with the son approaching the fence of the facility where his mother is playing a “friendly” tennis match, doubles specifically.
She doesn’t see him at first – and to be fair, he’s not in her line of vision. He keeps walking along the back of the court so he can say hello without a chain-link fence in his way.
At first, we think she sees him because there’s a loud yell, but it turns out that either mom or her tennis partner is just really passionate about the game!
It appears dad is there for the reunion as well, and finally we get a good view of where mom will see her son again.
That’s much better for a hug!
But mom is laser-focused and still doesn’t see them. Then again, she thought he’d be gone another month, so it’s the last thing she’s expecting.
Then it happens.
Mom’s tennis partner sees it first, and if we didn’t know any better (and we don’t), we’d think she looked a little annoyed that her game was about to be interrupted.
But mom is shocked!
She turns to see her son and her mouth drops open.
It’s a very sweet moment – the emotion comes over her as she drops her racket to the ground, covers her mouth, and yells “oh my God!”
Her boy is home!
And there will be tears!
She can barely run over to him without stopping to be overwhelmed just a little bit more.
Meanwhile, we’re trying to ignore mom’s tennis friends in the back wondering when they can get this show back on the road.
She even apologizes to them!
But we know what’s important here. Mom runs off the court and over to the gate to greet her son.
We can’t tell whether to shed a tear with mom in this emotional moment or laugh at the hand-on-hip tennis players in the background – now we see the other team is miffed too.
Ladies, it’s just a game!
We get some “aww”s and “ooh”s after mom yelps “I thought you were in Afghanistan!”
And it looks like mom’s game is over for the day as she says “how am I supposed to play now?” to the rest of the team – but they look like they might try to track her down and force her to finish.
After another hug, she actually does head back on the court.
Ladies doubles is brutal! But we’re glad her son is home safely.
Be sure to scroll down below to see the sweet reunion.
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