Army dad surprises daughter at Laville Elementary

LAKEVILLE— It may have been a day late, but the Easter Bunny made one more delivery Monday. It wasn't eggs or candy. It was a reunion between a father and daughter, nearly two years in the making. The lunch menu at Laville Elementary was corn dogs, smiley fries and milk. But Mikayla Jackson's meal was a little different and delivered by a very special person. Mikayla's dad, who she hasn't seen in nearly two years while he's been deployed with the Army, surprised her with a long due "happy" meal. "I got really excited and then i just started crying, because it was tears of joy," says Mikayla. Staff Sergeant Derrick Jackson has been away from his daughter for nearly 18 months. After returning from Iraq in late 2008, Jackson was stationed at Fort Hood and then Fort Bliss in Texas. "And now from Fort Bliss I'm going to Virginia for six weeks of training," says Jackson. "Then I'll come back and then we're heading off to Iraq again." Derrick and Mikayla talk to each other on the phone every week. But Derrick says nothing can replace being with his daughter. "It's hard. Like I tell everybody, it's like the last time I remember she was two and this year she's going on twelve," says Jackson. "I know parents say their kids grow up quick, but sometimes it's really hard when you don't get to see them grow up quick." Compared to the time they've spent apart, this moment is all too brief. But Mikayla plans to make the most of every second. "Probably just hang out and talk," says Mikayla. "Because I can't see him and I forget what he looks like." But it should be a day in the cafeteria she will never forget. Jackson will return to Fort Bliss after his training in Virginia. He could go back to Iraq as soon as July.