8-year-old brought to tears by surprise visit from best friend who moved away
Molly Wallis captured her son's reunion in a viral Instagram video.
A Georgia boy was brought to tears when he reunited with his best friend who had moved away last summer with his family.
Molly Wallis captured her son Liam's reunion with his friend Sage and after sharing it on Instagram in December, the video clip went viral, garnering over 68,000 likes.
According to Wallis, Liam and Sage became fast friends when they were about two years old, a couple of years after Wallis and her family moved to their home near Savannah, Georgia.
"From there, they did not leave each other's side," the 37-year-old mom told "Good Morning America." "They like to play Legos and make swords out of the palm fronds and all kinds of stuff."
But last year, Sage and his family relocated from Georgia to Florida due to Sage's father's work and Wallis said her son was greatly affected by the big change.
"Liam was very heartbroken. It's his first best friend and his first move," Wallis said.
Although they had spoken on the phone a couple of times, it just wasn't the same. So when Sage and his family returned to Georgia for an unexpected visit two months ago, Wallis knew she had to bring her son to visit them straight away.
"I knew he was going to cry. I did," she said. "I knew I was going to cry too. Because every time they talk on the phone, Liam will get emotional … I think all of us were a mess."
Both Liam's and Sage's reactions were not surprising to Wallis, who said the two openly share their feelings with each other, something she hopes they'll continue to do as they grow older.
"They are such boy boys so much of the time – Nerf guns and playing sword fights and everything that, a lot of guys think that you can't show both sides of 'I love you's' and that's the first thing Liam says to Sage whenever he talks to him," Wallis said. "I think Sage has always been kind of the same way. They're pretty open with hugs and I don't think it's ever been anything weird for them since they've known each other so long."
The boys' reunion went off without a hitch and Wallis said they "picked up just right where they left off."