A loving daughter felt like she was “healing her mom’s inner child” when she flew across the country to surprise her mother with a childlike birthday party.
Alma Soqui, 54, who lives in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, never had a surprise birthday party growing up, her daughter, Genevieve Torres, 30, said.
Genevieve lives on the other side of the country, in San Diego, and being overdue a visit to her mom’s house, the 30-year-old decided to make up for lost time and surprise her mom with the birthday she had always wanted.
Genevieve sourced childhood birthday decorations, including those incorporating rainbows and unicorns, and purchased her mom a Barbie doll.
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The doll itself had extra significance, Genevieve said, as when she was growing up in Mexicali, Mexico, her mom had traded her own Barbie doll for a cookie.
Alma’s family didn’t have much money when she was growing up, and so she thought she was temporarily exchanging the doll for a sweet treat, only to never see her beloved doll again.
Having arrived in Pennsylvania on March 27, Genevieve and her sister secretly decorated their mom’s home the following day, while Alma was at breakfast with a friend.
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Then, when Alma returned home, her granddaughter darted outside to greet her grandmother, before guiding her inside with Genevieve and her wife to see the beautiful surprise.
As she looked at the vibrant childlike decorations in front of her, Alma began to well up.
The moment was captured on video by Genevieve’s wife, Angie, and the couple later shared the footage on social media, explaining how they felt the surprise had healed Alma’s inner child.
Genevieve’s sister also surprised her mom with a record player and two records that she used to play for her daughters during childhood.
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Genevieve said: “My mom has gone through a hard life and has always been the one to take care of everyone.
“I have four brothers and four sisters, so growing up wasn’t the easiest.
“We were never able to give her what she wanted or give her what she needed because we were younger.
“To be able to heal that part of my mom healed me in a way I didn’t know it could.
“We decided to surprise her and fly out to see her so we could surprise her with a birthday she had never really had as a child.
“Seeing her eyes light up when she saw everything was really heartwarming.”
