GILBERT, Ariz. — Dressed in his United States Army uniform, Christopher Fulton, sat anxiously waiting in a Carol Rae Ranch Elementary school office. It was a moment he'd been thinking about for the past nine months.
"The past year has been lonely, rough, long," he said. "But knowing I'll eventually reconnect with my family, there's some light at the end of the tunnel."
Fulton has spent the past time away from family serving overseas in the Middle East. It's Fulton's third tour.
"All my time has been with the Arizona National Guard," he said. "Three deployments, one in Iraq and two to the Middle East and elsewhere. It's been a long journey. 18.5 years so almost at that 20 mark."
For his family, time away never gets easier. Fulton says especially as his two daughters get older, leaving them gets harder and harder. Seeing his daughters, his wife, and their extended family though is what kept him moving forward.
"The motivation that my family will be there at the end of that time, the excitement," he said. "A lot of emotions. I just want people to know that family is everything, that foundation is everything and having that strong support system means everything."
This brings us back to today, because Fulton is home, but his girls don't know it yet. They still believe their father is returning sometime in September. Fulton's wife, Jordan, says after letting the school know about his scheduled return, Principal, Chris Birgen, suggested they do something fun.
"It's for the girls," Jordan said. "They're going to love this, and they'll remember it for the rest of their lives. It'll be a core memory. They'll lose their minds."
Their children, Layla and Lana joined their classmates in what they thought was a scheduled assembly. The truth was, Christopher stood behind a curtain as the kids filtered into the auditorium. As he stood there, waiting, Principal Birgen called the girls up to receive a prize. The curtains opened and while initially stunned, Layla and Lana ran to their father for a hug.
"They mean the world to me," Christopher said. "The best gift I ever had. It's really real. There's no Facetime, I'm here and I'm so excited."
The first order of business was to spend the day together and catch up. They were just excited to be together as a family once again.
"I feel like it's been a long time coming," Jordan said.
"We're becoming whole again," Christopher said.
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