Chesterfield Township veteran surprises son with return from deployment

MACOMB CO., Mich. - Five months after serving in the Middle East, U.S. Army Specialist Eian Harris is home for Mother’s Day. 

“I feel like I was dreaming about something,” said 4-year-old Zaiden. “I thought my dad was invisible and my dad wasn’t home.” 

Zaiden had no idea that him and his dad would be together again. 

“I told him that his dad couldn’t come home, so the Army sent him a package to make it up to him,” said Zaiden’s mom Taylor Harris. 

It was technically, mom Taylor’s day, but she wouldn’t have done it any different. 

“One of my biggest purposes in life is making Zaiden happy, so I devoted my whole day to his surprise,” Taylor said. 

“We get to be a family now,” Zaiden said. 

Taylor and Eian are middle school sweethearts from Chesterfield Township. Now they live on Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. The latest deployment, Eian was given no notice at all and was shipped off within a day. 

He just landed Sunday morning, but things are different at home. 

“I can just already tell with the masks and all the places being closed that it’s going to be a lot different than when I left,” Eian said. 

Eian is on a 14-day quarantine, but he says he won’t mind it. 

“Just simply showering in my own shower, using my own bathroom, cooking - just the little things like not having to wear shoes everywhere I go,” he said. "It's going to be awesome."

And as far as Zaiden… 

“I want to say that I love my daddy so much,” he said.