On June 21, the McKenzie family was treated to the surprise of a lifetime when their Father’s Day picture was lovingly photobombed by none other than their military dad himself.
As Stars and Stripes reported, the memorable reunion was all planned by mom Kristin and her photographer pal Hannah Sanchez in an effort to give the McKenzie children a surprise they most certainly won’t soon forget.
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Shortly before the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., Army Lt. Col. Simon McKenzie was deployed to Qatar and wasn’t expected to return until September.
On February 25, he departed his home in Florida, leaving behind his wife and their four children — Caleb, 21, Blake, 8, Grey, 7, and 5-year-old Lawton.
“In the kids’ minds it was all the same,” Kristin told WREG of her husband’s deployment. “They were without their daddy for a year — even though we did see him once a month or every other month — and then he deployed shortly after us getting back together.”
Indeed, this family is sadly no stranger to being separated from one another.
In 2017, Kristin was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and the following year she had to remain in Washington D.C. for medical reasons while her husband moved to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
Although the kids were able to visit with their beloved father every few months or so, they didn’t end up officially joining him in Florida until August 2019. Then, of course, it was only a few short months before he was deployed.
The clan wasn’t expecting to see their father again until he returned from deployment in September, but fate would have other plans.
The onset of the coronavirus meant Simon wasn’t able to complete the requirements of his mission in Qatar, so he was given the green light to head home a few months early.
But after Kristin heard the good news, she decided that this wasn’t just going to be any old homecoming for her kids.
A plan was put into motion involving photographer Sanchez and a Father’s Day photo shoot ruse.
Since Caleb is away working for the summer, he was sadly absent from the surprise. Meanwhile, the youngest three McKenzie children — Blake, Grey, and Lawton — were gathered in a field near the Air Force Base where they were told they would be posing for some pleasant family pictures as a gift for their deployed father.
Little did they know he would actually be joining them very shortly.
Kristin and Sanchez were the only ones who knew of the plan, and the only ones who knew who was inside that white SUV that pulled up on the road behind the family during the shoot.
As the unsuspecting children continued to smile for the camera, their father quietly exited the vehicle and crept up behind them, still dressed in his uniform and wearing the biggest smile of them all.
Finally it was time for the big reveal, an emotional moment which was all perfectly captured on camera.
“They were honestly stunned and not sure what they were looking at when he walked up behind us,” Kristin told Stars and Stripes . “After a few seconds of pure shock they let out screams and squeals of joy. The 8-year-old just buried herself in his side and sobbed.”
Kristin said the collection of photos that were taken that day, documenting the reunion, are memories she and her entire family will treasure forever.
“My husband and I will look back on them and remember every step of the journey to get to that moment,” she said. “We will remember getting to breathe for a moment. We made it back to our person. Our kids already remember it as the moment we were whole again after what seemed like an eternity to them, between cancer keeping us apart and the deployment.”
Sanchez posted the sweet snaps online where they’ve quickly and understandably gone viral.
“Can you guys believe that a car pulled up right behind this adorable family right when we started shooting?! And then someone just jumped out and photobombed the entiiiiiire session!?” the photographer cheekily captioned the post, which was shared to her professional Facebook page .
“But for real, what better day than Father’s Day for this dad to finally reunite with his family! So many long months, but after being back in the US and quarantining, LTC McKenzie was able to hug and kiss his family again.”
At the time of writing, the photos have been shared over 21,000 times and have received nearly 22,000 reactions from touched Facebook users.
“So beautiful!” one person commented. “You did an awesome job capturing this very special moment for them! I hope that these pictures are out into a special frame and hung in the house.”
Another added, “That is absolute perfection. The way you caught all the emotion has me in tears!”
h/t: Stars and Stripes , WREG
Photos: Courtesy of Hannah Sanchez Photography — Website , Facebook , Instagram
