If this story doesn’t make your Veterans Day weekend, we don’t know what will.
Ten-year-old Rylie Higa is the only child of a single mother. Her mom, Melissa Higa, is a Senior Airman in the U.S. Air Force.
The two usually live together on Oahu. But Melissa has been deployed in Korea for the last ten months, and Rylie has been living with her grandmother.
Rylie’s birthday falls on Veterans Day, and her one birthday wish was for her mom to come home. She decided to write as much in a letter to President Obama, which she signed “Love, Rylie Higa, 4th Grade.” But she never had a chance to send the letter.
When Rylie’s grandmother told Melissa about the letter, the single mom resolved to make her daughter’s wish come true. “I wanted to make it big for her. It had to be,” Higa told KITV.
“Everyone says they don't know how we do it," Higa said, referring to her fellow soldiers. "But I think it's the families that sacrifice more. They are the ones that have to wait.”
As Rylie stood in her school cafeteria and told news crews about her wish yesterday, tears streamed down her face. "I want my mom to come home for my birthday and I haven't seen her since February," said Higa.
At that moment, her mom emerged from behind the curtains of Rylie’s school cafeteria.
Watch the video here to see the little girl’s priceless reaction, and Happy Veterans Day.
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