Many families who have a parent in the military sometimes struggle when a parent gets deployed or sent away. For families with young children, it can be hard to understand the distance and not being able to see your parents all of the time. For many spouses, deployment and time apart is the hardest part of being a military spouse.
Being halfway across the world from your family can be rough.
Many spouses and parents who are deployed look for ways to make it feel as though they are still close, finding creative ideas to stay connected to their loved ones.
Recently, one dad found out he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan for the majority of 2020.
Philip, who was deployed in October 2019 to Afghanistan, wanted to come up with a way to stay close to his seven-year-old daughter, Rosie, even from across the world.
His wife, Kristen, helped him come up with a nice and sentimental gesture to make their daughter feel close to her father.
The two thought it would be special if the father left hand-written notes to put in their daughter’s lunch every day. That way, she had a new one every day from her daddy to read.
The dad sat down and wrote all 270 notes before he left for deployment.
Each note was short and sweet, but had something special to say from Rosie’s dad. Some had holiday themes, while others were just to say he loves her.
Kristen, Rosie’s mom, told Good Morning America, the notes were so touching.
“He wrote anything from, ‘You are a super girl’ to ‘Smiling makes everyone else smile.’
He was very big on feel-good words for her and girl power. He made sure to tell her how smart she was, and run fast in P.E., and things that would really make her happy,” she said.
Kristen worked hard to keep the secret hidden.
Every day when she made Rosie’s lunch, she would “sneak” in the note from dad.
Finally, in August, Philip returned home just in time for Rosie’s birthday.
The reunion between Rosie and her father was touching and emotional, as the seven-year-old was overjoyed to be reunited with her dad.
The 10-month deployment was a lot for their family, Kristen said.
But, the notes to Rosie made it a little easier for her 7-year-old daughter to feel close to her father. It was almost as if he packed the lunches himself!
People online have viewed the TikTok videos millions of times, and Philip and Kristen went viral.
The story of writing the 270 notes touched people so much, the couple’s story appeared on multiple TV shows and social media pages. It just goes to show you, nothing matters in a family more than love.
Last Updated on November 18, 2020 by Lex Gabrielle