Elaine and Nathan Perry’s children knew their dad was coming home after serving almost a year overseas, but they thought he wouldn’t be home until Thursday, April 15. But Nathan surprised them and showed up on Wednesday.
One-by-one, Nathan, with his wife by his side, surprised the kids, making his unannounced appearance from oldest child to youngest. That meant the first stop was at the house where their 23-year-old daughter, Gabriella, was. He was delighted to see her and his two grandbabies. The next stop was at Robert Blue Middle School where they had their 13-year-old son, Robert, called to the office. As he got closer and noticed it was his dad waiting for him there, his face told the story of pure shock as he paused for just a moment in pure disbelief.
“Dad,” he said with a big smile as he gave him a big hug.
He was at a loss for words, just grateful that his dad was home earlier than expected.
“It was awesome,” Robert said after the shock wore off. “It scared me when they called me to the office because I thought I was in trouble or something,” he added with a laugh.
When Robert came back from collecting his things in his classroom so he could go home with his family for the remainder of the day, he shared the story with his mom and dad of how all of the kids started clapping and cheering when he came walking in, letting him know they were excited for the safe return of his father and the surprised he had just pulled off.
Next, Nathan, Elaine, and Robert headed to third-grade recess where they waited for Brynn to come out. As she and her teacher, Beth Egemo, walked down the sidewalk together, her dad, Nathan, waited on the “Buddy Bench.” She had nearly the same reaction as her big brother when she noticed him sitting there. Very few words were spoken in the first moments, but a long-lasting hug spoke volumes between the two. As Elaine and Robert watched, Beth shared the story of how Brynn was telling her all about her dad coming home “the next day” while they walked out to recess. After the hug, Nathan and Brynn seized the moment by taking a quick trip down the playground slide together before heading back into school to surprise their first-grade daughter, Karmoni.
Karmoni was sitting on the carpet with the rest of her class in Jen Conaway’s room, waiting for the next lesson. When Nathan walked in in his uniform, all of the kids started saying “Karmoni, your dad.” As she turned to see him standing there, a smile covered her face and her eyes got wide with excitement as she ran into his arms. As they stood there, her teacher asked her, “Karmoni, I thought you told me your dad was coming home tomorrow,” knowing he was in fact coming to surprise her a day early instead.
Karmoni responded with a shrug of her hands and shoulders, “That’s what I thought,” she said, happy to have him there early.
Before leaving the classroom to go with her family to surprise her little sister Alyvia (4) and brother Jaxon (2) at Eagle’s Wings Preschool (he brought in the snack cart), Karmoni and her father took time to read a book together to her classmates, appropriately title, “My Daddy is a Hero.”
The Perry children weren’t the only ones who were touched by their military father’s homecoming. Several staff members at Robert Blue Middle School and Eagle Grove Elementary also got a bit choked up seeing his return and interaction with his children. Nathan was humbled when they thanked him for his service and sacrifices.
Captain Nathan Perry is the Chaplin for the 133rd Infantry Battalion out of Waterloo. He has been in the Army for 15 years.
