You’ve seen videos like this before, but they never get old. Grab a tissue.
The most recent Minnesota soldier’s surprise homecoming was captured on the arena video screens at the Wild game Tuesday night.
Nicholas Jenn, of Crystal, deployed on his third tour to Kuwait, had obtained leave back to the state to be with an ailing grandmother. But he also surprised his wife Jaimie on her birthday by arranging a reunion in front of a hometown hockey crowd of 18,650 at Xcel Energy Center.
The setup: Jaimie was “randomly” selected to answer a trivia question about a Wild player, broadcast throughout the arena. But then her husband showed up on the screen to wish her a happy birthday – and to tell her to turn around.
She did, and the crowd roared as the two embraced.
Check out the video from the Wild.
Before the game, Jenn told FOX 9 that his initial plan was just to surprise their 3-year-old son, Grayson.
“It originally started as a surprise for him, but it kind of evolved from there,” he said.
After the game, Jaimie told FOX, “I felt like one of those people on TV from the ‘Coming Home” TV show,” she said. “I never expected anything like that – just really surprised and really happy.”
Jenn is scheduled to return overseas on March 25, KARE 11 notes.
A few other service member-family reunions worth watching: A Vikings game reunion, and a dad who shocked his four children by appearing dressed as Santa in the fish tank at the Mall of America.
