'Is this real?' Navy sailor surprises mother with reunion at Clearwater elementary school
CLEARWATER, Fla. - On Thursday morning, a mom got the surprise of her life when her son, who serves in the Navy, showed up in her first-grade class after completing boot camp.
Aimee Henig, a teacher at Frontier Elementary School in Clearwater, thought she and her students were learning about a STEM activity in the media center. Not too long into the presentation, her son, Navy Seaman Trevor Henig walked in.
"Oh my gosh," Aimee exclaimed through tears as she wrapped her son in a hug. "Is this real?"
Aimee’s other son, Connor Henig, helped coordinate the surprise and joined in on the hug.
"This is the first time I get to see her actually as a rated sailor before I actually go off to the fleet," Trevor said before the surprise. "It's going to be hard because I won't be able to see her again, but this can be a special moment for both of us."
"After I graduated [bootcamp], I was able to take leave, and I was like, ‘All right. How can I make this the most adorable, like, classic home thing,’ because I used to see all the videos of the sailors coming home and surprising their parents, surprising their families. It's like, I want to do that," he said. "And so, I messaged my brother and said, ‘Hey. I'm coming home. Let's surprise mom.'"
Trevor said he wanted to surprise his mom at school because she had told her class about him, and her students even sent him letters and drawings while he was at boot camp.
"What way to surprise the youth and my mother at the same time in one fell swoop, showing them what you can be, what you could be if you apply yourself, you push yourself, do something better, because I'm not just part of the Navy. I'm a part of something much bigger, an organization that wants to defend freedom around the world," Trevor said.
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Aimee said Trevor didn’t tell her when he was coming home because he wanted it to be a surprise, but she never anticipated this.
"I don't even think I can put that into words," she said. "As soon as it registered, that was him. I just, I don't know. I just wanted to grab him and hold him. It has been so long since I've gotten to do that."
Trevor Henig
Her class made welcome home signs and waved American flags after Trevor surprised his mom.
"I love my mother. She has been a rock through everything. She supported me when I was younger, and I was growing up. She gave me everything. She gave me the world, and this is like almost me giving back to her, saying, ‘Hey, this is what you made me. You made me into how I am today," Trevor said.
"This moment is the culmination of just everything, from me growing up, to me graduating, to me making it through my school, to being here. It's a thank you to her because I wouldn't be here without her."
Trevor is home for a week before he heads to sea school in Pensacola, where he’ll be until May.
They’re planning on celebrating everything he missed and will miss including Thanksgiving, his birthday, and Christmas.