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A soldier returning from deployment was brought to tears when he arrived home to discover his wife had created his dream “man cave” while he was overseas.
Derek Heffner, 35, from Fort Liberty, North Carolina, had no idea about the surprise, which his wife, Audrina, worked on while he was deployed in Europe for seven months.
Audrina knew she wanted to convert the family’s dining room into an area for Derek, a sergeant (E5) with the U.S. Army, as the pair would often joke about Derek taking over the TV during sporting events.
In the room, Audrina wanted to incorporate Derek’s two big loves – baseball and football – with a particular focus on his two favorite teams, the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Francisco 49ers.
For more than two months at the start of 2024, Audrina worked on the room, incorporating team memorabilia and the perfect viewing setup.
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Then when Derek returned from duty, he was blindfolded and entered his family home.
As soon as he removed his blindfold and looked at the room in front of him, the shocked 35-year-old froze and began to well up with tears because of Audrina’s loving gesture.
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Audrina captured the moment on video, which she said she stopped recording when her husband really started to bawl.
She added: “We’d always bicker about him taking over the TV for baseball and football, so I decided he needed his own space for each season.
“It took almost two months to put it together in total.
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“I had to stop recording because he started to tear up – but he absolutely loved it.
“I was so excited to finally show him, and it was so hard not to spill the beans before he came home.
“I did not expect the video that I shared to get as many views as it did.
“The little things matter. I hope it makes someone smile, and if you work hard, the end result can be really rewarding.”