TAMPA BAY, Fla. — A mother surprised her 6-year-old son at school after being deployed overseas for months and the sweet reunion was caught on camera.
Tampa Heights Elementary student Jewelz Bailey is your typical first grader, but for the past six months, he'd been a bit blue.
"He's missed his mom," school counselor Melissa Jones said.
His mom, Air Force Technical Sergeant Eboni Bailey was deployed to Kosovo, in southeastern Europe.
"He's been worried about her whereabouts, her safety," Jones said. "And as school counselor, it was my job to assure him that mommy was safe, that she was going to return home to him."
That day finally came on Thursday. So, Jones coordinated a special reunion between the two and another very important person in Bailey's life.
"It's all about Jewelz being able to be reunited with his mom as well as Andre being able to be reunited with his older sister," she said.
The first graders were told they were going to talk to news crews about their new school building.
But just before they got to their so-called press conference, Bailey and the rest of the family made their way inside.
"I'm just so elated to be back with them today," Bailey said.
The family is heading out of town on vacation. Then in a few weeks, Bailey and Jewelz will head back to Colorado where she's stationed.
This story was originally published by Jasmine Styles at WFTS.
