When you join the military, you agree to make many sacrifices.

A lot of those sacrifices will affect your time and family life.

Men and women who are separated from their families for months or even years understand how difficult it is.

The impact on their families is the same whether they have to go for training or are deployed.

When one parent is gone for an extended period, there is an obvious imbalance.

And it is a difficult duty for the other parent to shoulder.

But it’s moments like this one that hurt the most when you genuinely wish your mom or dad was there. Your heart breaks, even more, to see your peers or other children with both parents present.

Addie Rodriguez was a cheerleader for her school team at the time when she was nine years old.

She joined cheerleading because she believed it would be a fun sport to do after school.

She also needed this as a distraction because her father was in the Air Force, which meant he was constantly gone from home.

Abel Rodriguez, Addie’s father, remarked:

“The hardest part was, just leaving my family.”

Addie explained:

“I kept on asking my mom when was daddy gonna come home, and it was kind of hard for me.”

As a result of her rigorous training, Addie became a fantastic cheerleader for San Antonio’s Central Catholic School.

And while cheerleading made Addie happy every time she did it, there was one day when cheering for her squad made her very sad.

Addie was roaring as usual at the football game on October 8, 2017.

It wasn’t just any day, though — it was Parents’ Day.

Parents were asked to perform with their children to the field and perform a trick with them. Although Addie’s mother, Alexis Perry, was present to support her, her father was unable to attend the game due to military training.

Alexis Perry, Addie’s mother, told ABC News:

“The moms did a cheer with their daughters and I was there, so I smiled with her and took a picture and hugged her.”

Alexis added, “When I saw the dads lining up I said, ‘Oh my gosh. What am I going to do?”

The girls would recite the cheer, and the dads would follow through with a stunt.

Which then would end up in the girls being lifted on their fathers’ shoulders, as Perry explained. But there was no one there for Addie.

Then something incredible happened.

Matthew Garcia, a young man, running out of the bleachers, jumping up on two fences, and was kneeling right next to Addie in a matter of seconds. And was asking if she wanted to do the trick with him.

Garcia said:

“I ran down from the bleachers right here and I just hopped the fence.”

“I knelt down to talk to her and I said, ‘Are you okay?'”

Addies shared:

“I just saw him ran to me and said you can come into my shoulder.”

The young man was a senior in high school who went on to Baylor University to study cardiology.

Matthew may not have thought he did anything exceptional, but his gesture made Addie’s day, and she will never forget him.

Perry shared a snapshot of himself and a thank-you message on Facebook after the game.

He was identified by a member of the community, and she was able to thank him directly.

Watch the video below!

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Sources: YouTube – Mike Bush, ABC News