Son leaves parents in tears by surprising them with gift of a lifetime as a token of appreciation

Parenting is a thankless job more than half the time. But the smile on your child's face at the end of the day makes it all worth it. Parents tire themselves day in and day out, looking after the well-being of their children and building their future. Therefore, when children show gratitude, it is a heartwarming moment to behold as the love they gave selflessly is being returned to them. Joe Riquelme went one step further and ensured not to leave even one dry eye in the room when he gave an envelope to his parents. The moment his parents opened the envelope, they were touched by the love and respect their son had for them.

The heartwarming incident was captured in a video and uploaded on YouTube for the world to see. As the camera begins rolling, viewers see the family in a room giving each other Christmas presents. The son, app developer Joe Riquelme, hands his mom an envelope. His mom was not expecting anything huge apart from typical gifts. But when she opened it, she realized it was the surprise of a lifetime. The envelope had a statement from Bank of America, along with a note from Joe stating, "Your house is paid off. Merry Xmas. – Joe."

The mother begins to tear up as she reads the letter and realizes what he is gifting her. She could only muster up the words, "I love you. Thank you," for her son. After this, she passed on the letter to her husband. He also got choked up and could not believe that his son was so thoughtful and considerate to lift such a huge burden from their shoulders. Riquelme is successful in his field and has garnered a lot of recognition for his work in Videoshop.

In his opinion, he owed all of this success to his parents and though he knew he would never be able to pay them back for everything they have done for him, he still wanted to give them some token of appreciation. "Sometimes the best gifts come in the lamest packages. Merry Christmas everyone," Riquelme wrote on Facebook, sharing a photo of the note and his parents' reaction to the gift.

In the corner of the note he gave his parents, Riquelme also mentioned things that his parents had done for him and his siblings, such as raising them and helping them get college loans. He put a checkmark beside them, signifying that they fulfilled their responsibilities by doing these tasks, and now it is his chance to look after them. The last checkmark was beside the mortgage, which he paid for them.

Since being posted eight years ago, the video has gained more than 11 million views. @susancho78 emphasized how this must've been such a dream come true moment for the son and commented, "This is literally the dream of all kids whose parents immigrated to the States for a better life. Cheers to our hard-working parents who worked crap jobs so we could have everything." @David-qv5ku too could relate to the video due to his heritage. "As a Hispanic, it hit me more hearing her cry like my mom would, lmao, what a beautiful world," they wrote.