"Daddy! Tearful surprise homecoming" (MSNBC video)

[Sapphire Blue]

A video from MSNBC that will warm even the Abominable Snowman's heart; have your Kleenex handy...

Daddy! Tearful surprise homecoming http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=889466da-5eb2-42da-aed6-2edd2b656525&p=hotvideo_m_edpicks&t=m5&rf=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/&fg=

[southernleftylady]

1. its a great video but it makes me think of all the little ones who are going to cry..

because their daddy and mommies aren't coming home :(
but yes that video is very sweet and it made me tear up alittle

[Longhorn]

2. Yes, I cried.

Sometimes we think children that young don't understand what it means for their parents to be gone. That little guy clearly missed his father and realizes the significance of him coming home safely. I'm happy for that family.

[NewJeffCT]

3. damn, I hate these kind of things

ever since my daughter was born a little over 4 years ago, I get watery eyed every time I see these types of stories.

And, I'd probably be even worse if it was a sad story - I still remember getting watery-eyed reading a story in the Wall Street Journal (of all places) about an 18 month old boy dying of a virulent staph infection and how the doctors were doing all the could to save the poor boy, but...

[youthere]

5. Same thing happened to me...

I never used to cry at movies-in fact I loved teasing those who did. I'm getting my payback though, ever since my first child was born I cry at the drop of a hat. In fact, I cried once because Gary the Snail ran away from SpongeBob. Seriously. I'm such a wimp now.LOL.

[Bunny]

11. Well, I'll rise to your defense re: SpongeBob.

The episode where Gary ran away had me and my two daughters in tears also. So, don't feel bad. ;)

[youthere]

12. LOL!

[NewJeffCT]

13. well, at least I'm not that bad yet

This paper had a reprint of the WSJ article:

In April 2004, Simon Sparrow was a robust toddler, 17 months old and just learning to feed himself. Then he caught a cold.

He awoke with a cry at his family's Chicago home. His parents took him to the University of Chicago Children's Hospital. Emergency-room doctors X-rayed his chest and chalked up his symptoms to a virus and asthma. They let him go home at about 1 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., his mother called back and asked doctors to listen to his worsening breathing over the phone. Call 911, they said.

An ambulance whisked Simon back to the hospital where his condition rapidly deteriorated. Doctors scrambled to insert tubes and administer antibiotics and drugs to combat organ failure triggered by an overwhelming infection. Approaching midnight, he was taken off a regular ventilator in favor of a high-tech, heart-lung bypass system. Twelve hours later, he was dead.

<snip>

As Simon was taken into the intensive-care unit, after the administration of antibiotics and other drugs, his eyes were open and he looked around. Wasn't that a good sign, Ms. Macario asked? The doctors' expressions told her something was seriously wrong. "They seemed confused, scared, frantic and helpless themselves," she wrote in a later essay detailing the day's events

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06020/641543.stm

There's a lot more - but, when I read that paragraph after where I snipped, I just could picture the mom in the ICU and how she thought it was hopeful that her son opened his eyes - only to look at the doctors and realize she was wrong - I just started getting all misty eyed and my nose stuffed up to where I had to take a break and calm down in the men's room.

[wicket]

14. I cried at the Muppets once

They did this video that incorporated Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle", that gets me every time. :cry:

[Geoff R. Casavant]

19. Oh crap, I'm doomed.

My first child (a daughter) is due in July. My wife is a weeper, and I've been known to shed a few tears at the right movie myself. I might as well just start eating the quiche now.

[annabanana]

17. Having kids'll do that to you.

When you understand how completely they depend on you for their understanding of the world, and when you understand that you will, inevitably, have to dissappoint them. When they find out you can't fix everything..

. . then you understand right in the gut why we have to try and fix this, every day.

[youthere]

4. I saw this on the news this morning..

I absolutely sobbed. If this doesn't make you cry there is no way you can be human.

[bigendian]

6. I caused me to tear up, but........

isn't it convenient that a "news" camera was there? Not to mention the frequent airplay the clip is getting.

[qanda]

7. As cynical as I have grown over everything about this war

Even I had to dab my eyes over that one. There's no doubt that the boy and his father share a special bond. I'm very glad he was able to have a reunion with his dad.

[PsN2Wind]

8. This is touching

Can we now expect one showing, "Daddys home but he's in a box"?

[BayCityProgressive]

10. that is sad

that so many families have to go through this. I will be awaiting the coverage of little Iraqi kids whose parents have been blown to bits...

[madokie]

9. I've read that your pet dog has no sense of time and will be just as excited when you return

whether you're gone a week or only a few minutes. With that said, have you noticed how when you see one of your kids no matter how long its been since you seen them last, minutes or months, its the same with us too.

[NightWatcher]

15. this is why I fucking hate bush

his actions have prevented more than 3000 kids from getting to see their mom or dad again.

nuff said

[ronnykmarshall]

16. Wow!

That was just wonderful.

[uppityperson]

18. Flat Daddy

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/30/guard_families_cope_in_two_dimensions/

Guard families cope in two dimensions
`Flat Daddy' cutouts ease longing

By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | August 30, 2006

Maine National Guard members in Iraq and Afghanistan are never far from the thoughts of their loved ones. But now, thanks to a popular family-support program, they're even closer.

Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.

The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."

At the request of relatives, about 200 Flat Daddy and Flat Mommy photos have been enlarged and printed at the state National Guard headquarters in Augusta. The families cut out the photos, which show the Guard members from the waist up, and glue them to a $2 piece of foam board....(more)