This little girl couldn’t wait another second to hug her father, whom she hadn’t seen in over eight months. Two-year-old Karis Oglesby, upon spotting her dad, 1st Lt. Daniel Oglesby, in formation during a homecoming ceremony in Colorado, made a dash for him.
A video captured Karis running across the gymnasium in her sparkling gold boots and red, white, and blue outfit. When she reached her dad, he bent down to give her a hug before gently guiding her back to her seat.
“I wasn’t worried about maintaining the integrity of the formation,” 1st Lt. Oglesby, who recently returned from Kuwait, told ABC News. “The homecoming ceremony is all about our families who’ve had to sacrifice eight, almost nine, months without their loved ones. I was so happy to see my awesome little girl.”
Oglesby added that his toddler’s impulsive run for a hug “was a pleasant surprise.”
“I had left in February, and we were close, but I wasn’t sure how much she would remember me and what her reaction would be when I came back,” he said. “I was so happy that she was excited to see me — so excited that she couldn’t even wait for the quick ceremony to be over first.”
The 33-year-old father added that he just came back in time for Karis’ birthday tomorrow, when she turns three.
“If you thought she was excited to see me, just wait until we go to Chuck E. Cheese or the North Pole tomorrow,” he said. North Pole is a local amusement park in Colorado Springs.
Oglesby also has a four-year-old daughter named Layla and said his girls and their mom “are going to be the bosses around here” for the next few weeks.
“Whatever I can do to make up for the lost time, I’ll do,” he said. “Whatever they want, I’ll get it for them.”