It had been more than two long years since Erika Benning last saw her son, Giovanni Pando, so she was shocked when he made a surprise appearance last week.
As the mom was being sworn in as an officer with the Irving Police Department in Dallas, her 21-year-old son, an Army sergeant, showed up for an emotional reunion.
Pando had been stationed overseas in Germany and seeing him in uniform at her ceremony made the whole thing even more special for Benning. He was the one to pin the badge on his mom’s police uniform as she broke down and he admits to shedding a few tears himself.
“She’s never let something stop her from achieving what she wants,” Pando explains. “And while raising me, that’s always something she’s preached to me. If you want something, work for it and you’ll achieve your goal.”