Lt. Col. Chris Field had been in Kuwait for six months when he was finally able to come home. But instead of having a typical homecoming, he and his wife, Melissa, decided to do something special: they would surprise each of their three children at school, one by one. They even came up with a code so they could talk about the homecoming without the kids catching on.
12-year-old Travis Field was in class when he heard someone come in and ask, “Is Travis Field in here somewhere?” He turned around and saw his dad standing there, and as soon as he did, he couldn’t run to him fast enough. Cecilia, who is in high school, said her mind was “blown” to see her dad at her school.
“We haven’t seen him in so long, and it was just a really great surprise,” she said.
She’s taken it upon herself to comfort her younger brothers whenever the time apart got too tough, letting them know that they could make it.
“Whenever Travis or Chase is feeling down I go in there and comfort them, say, ‘Hey it’s going to be ok. It’s such and such more days, we can get through it,’” she explained. Last to get picked up was seven-year-old Chase, who said he was excited and really happy to finally see his dad after six months apart.
Lt. Col. Field has been in the Army for 18 years, and his service has included a year-long deployment to Iraq, something Travis said he didn’t think he could take. Thankfully, he’ll now be stationed at Fort Knox, so he’s home with his kids for good. Still, getting here has taken a lot of sacrificing for this military family, but they were sacrifices the kids were proud to make.
“He’s the best dad we could ever ask for. He’s serving his country well, but he still makes time to come home for us,” Cecilia said. “It makes us feel proud to be able to call ourselves his children.”