Deployed father surprises daughter at Cardinals game

The thousands of screaming St. Louis Cardinals fans didn't faze Staff Sgt. Matthew Peters as he walked onto the field at Busch Stadium on Friday night.

Peters had eyes for one person: his 8-year-old daughter Kylie, who just finished singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" with her second-grade class from St. Paul Lutheran School during the seventh inning stretch of the game against the Washington Nationals.

"There could have been zero people in the stadium, or however many they had, it didn't matter," Peters said. "I was just so anxious to see my daughter. I didn't hear anybody, I didn't see anybody else, I just kind of had tunnel vision toward her."

Peters is an officer with the Jackson Police Department, and is also a member of the National Guard. Since March he has been in Honduras on a special assignment.

He knew about his daughter's performance Friday before he left, and knew how important it was to her. Being a die-hard Cardinals fan, Peters decided to try to make the trip home to see his little girl.

"I was kind of bummed I was going to have to miss it, and actually I was supposed to originally be back June 28, but I've been extended for another month down there. But it came up that I talked to my boss and said, 'Hey, this is what's going on,' and of course we're Missouri guard, my boss is from Missouri guard, and he of course is a Cardinals fan as well, and he was like, 'Absolutely, take the weekend.' So he let me come back," Peters said.

He contacted the Cardinals office about two weeks ago to set up the meeting, and was grateful for how helpful they were.

Peters said the Cardinals staff was willing to do whatever they could to help. They gave him a free ticket at will call and stayed in contact with him and his wife over the next two weeks to arrange everything. He said they gave him a seat very close to the gate he was entering from and around the fourth inning they called him and had him go into the tunnel to meet his daughter.

Kylie was positioned on the outside of the choir, closest to the right-field wagon gate where her father would be emerging. She had no idea he had flown roughly 1,600 miles to come see her.

"When she first turned to me, she looked at me and she was puzzled," Peters said with a laugh. "She just didn't expect it. And then I said 'Hi, Kylie,' and she ran over to me and jumped up in my arms and buried her head in my chest. She cried for probably the next 20 minutes."

Peters was able to spend the weekend with his family before he has to return to Honduras until late July. Since his arrival date was pushed back a month, he said he was grateful to get to spend Father's Day with family and said his wife was relieved to see

him.

"It's been an emotional time for her," he said. "Not only dealing with the two children and running a household and working a full-time job, but her mom has also been in the hospital for the past week in intensive care, so it was definitely good timing. I think she needed some support."

When Peters came home Friday night he said he was greeted in a much similar fashion by his 2 1/2-year-old son, Gunner. Peters said Gunner jumped into his arms laughing and smiling, and hasn't left his side since.

The family was able to talk via Skype while Peters was deployed, and he said it's gotten easier since school has been out.

"We try to do the Skype thing; of course, now that school's out it's a little bit easier with schedules. With her playing soccer and stuff we didn't get to do it that often, but we try to do it as much as possible," Peters said.

The family didn't have any extravagant plans for the weekend. Saturday they had a family barbecue and spent some time together, and Peters said he had no idea what the plans were for Father's Day on Sunday.

"They have something planned, but I'm not sure what it is," Peters said. "I guess I deserve that."

smaue@semissourian.com

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