COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — A viral video featuring a local military family is capturing the hearts of millions online.
The video shows two girls connecting with their father on deployment thousands of miles away in Poland through their home security cameras.
“It’s too adorable not to share you know, so I put it together and it just went wild,” Kristy Dorn, mother of the two girls says.
The children are seen looking straight into the security cameras while telling their father, “Love you, Dad! Have a great night’s sleep” and, “Bye Dad! We love you. Muah! Muah! Muah! Take my heart.”
Army Sgt. First Class and Senior Medic Advisor Jordan Dorn says he became emotional when he saw the video his wife made.
“I was actually walking back from the gym at the base we were at, and I had to stop in the middle of the soccer field, because I was just raining tears so I just stood there for five minutes afterwards,” Sgt. Dorn says.
The video has almost 8 million views on Instagram and 1.6 million plays on TikTok. Kristy Dorn says this is her husband’s fourth deployment and the third as a family. She does not shy away from how real and raw the pain of separation is.
“I’m not gonna lie. This one has been really hard,” Dorn says. “You don’t realize how lonely it is until your best friend's gone, and you’re here holding down the fort for your entire family. It’s just lonely.”
The family has taken steps to lessen the pain brought on by deployment. The girls are coping by meeting weekly with a military counselor at their school. They also have created “daddy dolls” the girls can take with them anywhere.
“We got them daddy dolls from Hug-A-Hero, and they just love and hug those dolls wherever they go,” Dorn says. “They usually go to school with them too sometimes, because they have a military counselor at school that meets with them once a week.”
Their counselor also recommended the girls and their dad make paper hands to give them “hugs” when they need it most.
“I take them everywhere,” Sgt. Dorn says. “They usually sit next to my bed every night and it is the length of their hug.”
The outpouring of support online has helped ease the pain of deployment, with many people reminding them their country does not go unnoticed.
“I think a lot of people are thankful for the sacrifices that not only my husband has to make but my kids, too,” Kristy Dorn says.
You can watch this viral video on Instagram.
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