Mom boarded flight to visit daughter, unaware of the tearful surprise awaiting her at 40,000 feet

A woman boarded a flight, thinking it was just another day, unaware that she would be flying with someone very special as her flight attendant. Well, Jania Elise (@niaorsully on Instagram) informed her mom they’d meet directly at the hotel. Clueless, her innocent mom agreed. But then came the real surprise when she boarded the flight and saw her daughter greeting her. Elise posted the video on February 16, and so far, it has been viewed 48 million times on her page. 

"Welcome aboard," Elise greeted her mom. At first, the woman didn't recognize her daughter and responded as if she were just a regular flight attendant. But then, realization hit, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. She was so loud that all other passengers, especially the one standing just behind Elise's mom, were almost traumatized. In fact, the gentleman joked upon seeing the woman's wild reaction, "I think she is happy to see you, but I am not sure." Elise immediately hugged her mom and asked her to lower her voice because she was being extremely loud. But no one complained because other passengers were equally thrilled to witness the beautiful moment. "Stop yelling," Elise told her mom once again, who had a tough time suppressing her excitement. The journey of becoming a flight attendant must have been difficult for both, but the moment Elise's mom saw her daughter living their shared dream, she felt every hardship was worth that beautiful moment.

Parents feel proud when they see their kids achieve something they've dreamt of. But a research paper, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, has gone a step further in establishing its link to psychological well-being. Researchers surveyed 505 parents and asked them parenting-related questions. Based on their responses, the researchers rated how often parents were proud or were in awe of their child to measure life satisfaction, meaning in life, and psychological richness. They found that parents who reported more instances of feeling proud were more satisfied with life and experienced less negative emotion. While pride wasn't associated with a stronger sense of meaning or psychological richness, awe was linked to higher life satisfaction, greater meaning, and a richer psychological life. While the way of showing affection may differ from parent to parent, a survey (by Kiddie Academy) of 1,000 adults revealed that the most common ways of showing their kids they were proud of them were physical affection (55%) or encouraging words (38%). The same study also found that 93.7% parents prefer their kids' happiness more than anything else, and that they would go against social norms to support them. 

Meanwhile, reacting to the Instagram reel, @ratih_sras commented, "Her screams say, 'She is my daughter, I am her mom, I am so proud of you.'" Similarly, @ojsoundjames shared, "Lol, I am telling your mom to shush because of your success is crazy and lovely." @tricebeeflyy wrote, "Your mom gets extra snacks because she genuinely responded back with a thank you...We don’t get much of those!" @heytoyamac commented, "Lol, I'm the type of person who would've screamed and wouldn't have said why I was screaming lol…Are you in my business? I know I'm screaming... deduce, deduce."

You can follow Jania Elise (@niaorsully) on Instagram for lifestyle content.

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