VIDEO: Military mom surprises son at Alabama graduation

TUSCALOSSA, Ala. (KABC) -- It's arguably one of the best graduation presents ever! A mom, who had been deployed with the Navy overseas, came home early to surprise her son as he walked across the stage to get his diploma.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Vera Turner had been deployed in Guantanamo Bay for the last nine months.

She told her family she wouldn't be able to attend her son's graduation at Paul W. Bryant High School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

"All he could say was, 'Thank you mama, thank you, I love you,'" Turner said.

Her son Steven Turner Jr. said his mom's surprise at his graduation meant a lot to him.

"It means so much to me, it means the whole world. I thought she wasn't going to make it," said Steven Turner Jr.

As you can imagine, this mother and son duo is now catching up on lost time.