A Virginia high school gym was the site of the most touching reunion of the week, with a Senior Night volleyball game serving as the site of a soldier’s return from Afghanistan just in time to see her daughter compete.
As disseminated across its social media accounts, Hayfield High School (Alexandria, Va.) hosted its annual volleyball Senior Night on Thursday. The match came a day after military appreciation day at the school, which created the perfect backdrop to honor Tia Benning, a colonel in the U.S. Army who had been stationed in Afghanistan. Benning’s daughter, Jada Benning, was celebrating her final home match, and so it was announced that they would honor her mother who couldn’t be there.
Except she was there. Tia Benning came out from behind the stands, and her daughter instantly collapsed with shock and joy in one of the more touching military reunions we’ve seen in some time.
Really, grab some tissues. You’re going to need them:
It’s not known whether Benning’s return is a temporary or permanent one. Nor how it was all orchestrated to make sure she made it back in time for her daughter’s big night on the court.
What is known is that it made a heck of an impression, and an entrance, to the point that it’ll be hard to hear the phrase “hay field” without getting an image of the two Bennings’ embrace.
