VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A seven-month deployment ended up being 10 months for Chris Richards and his family.
"It was a lot longer than it was supposed to be. He was supposed to be back in July or August, and it just kept getting extended and extended," said Chris' wife Robin Richards.
It was especially hard for his 7-year-old son, Liam, who had been waiting for his dad to come home so they could see their beloved Detroit Lions together.
"Everybody knows Liam’s a Detroit fan. He has a Detroit backpack, and he’s wearing jerseys all the time," said his mom, Kelly Burrell.
Watch: Dad surprises son at Pembroke Meadows Elementary after Navy deployment
The family had already bought tickets, but Chris’ deployment kept getting extended.
"Ten months seems like 10 years to a child, but we kept reassuring him that Dad was going to be okay," Burrell said.
Then, just days before the game, Chris’ ship, the USS Roosevelt, returned home.
Kelly, a teacher at Pembroke Meadows Elementary, where Liam is a second-grader, decided to plan a surprise.
“We knew we wanted to surprise Liam at school, but we didn’t want it to be an embarrassing moment,” she said.
Chris lives in Raleigh with his wife and stepkids. While they’re a blended family, there’s no mistaking the love they all share, despite the distance.
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"Chris sent me a text and said, ‘I’m 10 minutes down the road,’” Burrell recalled.
“I took Liam to the parents’ table and pretended I was going to have lunch with him. He could tell I was acting a little odd,” she said.
Stepmom Robin was recording when Chris walked into the cafeteria to surprise Liam.
“I happened to look at the door and saw Chris walking through. Immediately, Liam knew something was going on behind him, so he turned around, and that’s when he saw his dad,” Burrell said.
“It took a second to realize that it was actually him, present with me, not just on a FaceTime call or a phone call,” said Chris.
“When he was first coming, I said, ‘Who is that?’ And when he came closer, I was like, ‘Whoa, it’s my dad,’” Liam said.
“Once he realized it was actually me, the raw emotion just kind of came out from him,” Chris added.
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It was emotional for everyone, including Robin, who was crying as she recorded the moment. She shared the sweet reunion online, and it went viral.
“It was like 100,000 views every minute or something ridiculous,” said Robin.
So far, the video has more than 3.3 million views on TikTok, which caught the attention of the Detroit Lions.
Liam and his dad were greeted at the gate and invited onto the field.
“I got to go on the field and take a picture with Terrion Arnold,” Liam said.
They were also given plenty of Lions swag.
But for Chris and Liam, the biggest prize was doing something they love together.
“It had been so long since I’d seen him, and just being able to grab him and hold my sweet little boy…” Chris said, trailing off.
An emotional family reunion of viral proportions made this military family positively Hampton Roads.
