Military mom photobombs 3-yr-old daughter as she poses for photo with Harlem Globetrotters

Nothing quite compares to the moment when you finally get to embrace a loved one after being apart for a long time. One such reunion captured on a basketball court left viewers feeling deeply moved. In a video posted to Reddit by u/dreamed2life, a father and his young daughter are seen posing with the Harlem Globetrotters, entirely unaware that the mother—who had been deployed in Kuwait—was about to join them.

As the photographer shows the little girl the picture, she excitedly shouts, "Mama!" prompting her dad to turn around, surprised to see his wife standing nearby in her military uniform. The mom, a U.S. Army service member, had been away from her family for months, making this reunion all the more powerful. In the video, the dad, clearly in shock, initially moves in the opposite direction before their daughter runs straight to her mom, wrapping her arms around her in a joyful hug. The dad soon joins in, creating a beautiful, emotional family embrace. The touching moment quickly went viral, with countless people sharing their reactions in the comments.

"Kudos to the crowd for not cheering before the family saw her. That’s some good group self-control there," wrote u/perpetualpenchant. "Daughter recognized mom before her dad. lol Beautiful moment," commented u/MrsLisaOliver. "You know these videos used to make me smile before I was a father to a little girl. Now I tear up every freaking time seeing that kid say mama and look around, then dash to her mom," added u/Totallystymied. "Nothing more beautiful than a family reunion like this. Thank you for your service and sacrifice, it means so much," added u/CleverCoder7. 

Reuniting with your mother is always a unique experience—a sentiment Benjamin Hulleberg, a middle school substitute teacher, felt deeply when he met his birth mother for the first time after 20 years. "It was always a very positive conversation," the 20-year-old told Good Morning America. "It was my parents either expressing gratitude for Holly or me talking about how I'm grateful for her and how I want to meet her one day." Unbeknownst to him, his mother, Holly Shearer, had also spent years thinking about the baby she placed for adoption on Thanksgiving Day in 2001. "He was always on my mind. More so on holidays and his birthday, roller coaster of emotions," the 36-year-old shared. "I thought about him all the time," she said. 

Since 2014, Shearer yearned to know more about the little boy she had given up. After searching for him, she finally landed on Benjamin's social media page. "He was 18 when I found him and I was very hesitant," she recounted. "He had so much going on in his life... The last thing I wanted to do was to throw a wrench in his life. So I just watched from a distance," she said. Benjamin on the other hand had been trying to contact his biological mother for years. Their paths finally crossed when Shearer reached out to him on Facebook, and wished him a happy birthday. "I can remember the exact place that I was at when I got the message. I was at work. I was a machine operator and I remember I was in machine No. 15," Benjamin said. They met back in November 2021. "When I saw her, she stood up and she gave me a hug and I cried. I just looked at her and I was like, 'You're real like you're in front of me.' And it was surreal," he said.