Community Corner

Navy Daughter Surprises Parents with Unexpected Homecoming

Brenda Seitz and her husband Rich had made peace with the idea that their daughter Carson would not be spending Christmas at home this year. But Carson and brother Dylan had other ideas.

It was just about two weeks ago that we were hanging around town and stumbled across a local mom who was putting together a photo album of scenes from Enumclaw for her daughter who wouldn't be coming home for Christmas this year. (.)

Brenda Seitz told us her daughter Carson, of Enumclaw High School's Class of 2011, was in the U.S. Navy and would be spending her holidays working in Illinois. She recounted sadly how Carson told her that for Thanksgiving dinner, she'd had a can of soup her mother sent her, and so mom was determined to send her daughter just a little piece of home for Christmas.

But Carson was actually going to come home. "I wasn't supposed to finish schooling for [naval] firefighting until January," Carson told us the day before her surprise homecoming. "But I bumped up the class and finished and graduated last week."

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At her brother Dylan's suggestion, Carson decided it would be fun to surprise their parents rather than tell them the change in plans. "I changed my flight to Monday ... It was just a last-minute thing."

It was so last-minute that Carson had already received her mom's collection of photos before she left for home. "She sent me the photos and I'm like 'oh my goodness! She's doing that stuff for me and I'm coming home!'"

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Thanks to Dylan, who'd contacted us while he was still finishing his own finals at Washington State University, Patch got to document the homecoming for the Seitz family and we admit -- we got a little teary-eyed too. We hung around just long enough to get some quick reaction from the family but made our exit quickly so everyone could catch up. (see the accompanying video)

Before we left, Brenda sighed happily, "what a nice day, huh?"

Surely we think so. Carson told us she'd get a full two weeks at home before transporting to her new assignment in San Diego. "I just want to spend it [my time off] with my family and kind of relax."


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