While many little girls love playing princess, one 6-year-old by the name of Morgan Richards did just that but this time —- a big surprise awaited her at the end of her dance.
Morgan was invited to dress up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast for a special dance but she had no idea who waiting to surprise her under the “Beast” mask.

The two danced together for a bit until the Beast unmasked himself — and who was it exactly?
Morgan quickly realized it was her dad, Brandon.
Brandon is in the Navy and spends much of his time away on deployment.

The past six months, he has been in the Pacific and he wanted to do something special for his daughter upon him coming home.
What was sweeter than the idea itself?

The look on Morgan’s face when she realized it was her dad she was dancing with the whole time!
Morgan was overjoyed to see him and hugged him close.
Her mother, Elizabeth, shared with Inside Edition how they always do their best to make things special for the kids when Brandon comes home as they spend a lot of time apart.

“You can’t really bank on when they’re coming home, on the exact time of day, so really, the element of surprise always has to be there,” she shared.
And for Brandon, it is very important that the memories he creates with Morgan overshadow the moments he misses out on.
“It’s just a surreal feeling; to do something that they can remember like this is awesome,” he said. “Just to have that experience, it means a lot.”

Recently, another service man surprised his young daughter for her third birthday coming in from Afghanistan by hiding in a wrapped box.
The touching and sweet moment touched many, with folks commenting:
“I wish little girls like this didn’t have to wait to see their fathers.”

“It’s pretty hard on the dads too – mine left for desert storm before I was able to walk unassisted, and when he came back, I was walking, talking, and potty-trained. I also didn’t recognize him, and hid behind my mom. He said that was the start of deciding he needed to get out of the armed forces.”
“What always gets me about these coming-home videos is that a lot of these kids get moved to tears. And that’s a pretty mature reaction to have to something. I can’t remember crying from happiness until my teens. These kids get to experience one of the happiest feelings, probably for the first time in their life.”

“Dude her little squeals of sheer delight at the sight of her daddy are just so precious. Honest to god this just turned me frown upside down….literally….so happy for them!”
“Awww, I remember this feeling. My dad was away during the winter one year, and my cousins kept taunting us with a really cool Christmas present. We thought it was a jungle gym or something like. But nope, it was our daddy 🙂 To this day, best Christmas present ever.”
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